Four Months
by Scarlet Alapaap
Summary: Hori somehow ends up as a mentor to student intern, Kashima, and he is not quite sure whether he enjoys or hates every fibre of Kashima's being. AU
1. The Mentor and the Mentee

Hello! I'm a little apprehensive about uploading this story because I'm fairly new to GSNK, but because I ship HoriKashi so much I decided to upload this anyway. I hope anybody who decides to read this will find it to their liking. :)

 **Edited [06.20.15]:** Made some slightly major (is that even possible?) changes with the whole story so I'm replacing it with an edited (and sadly, shorter) version of the first chapter. I decided that Hori would instead be a high school instructor.

 **Disclaimer:** Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-Kun doesn't belong to me, obviously, because if I did write it, I wouldn't even be here.

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 **Prologue: The Mentor and the Mentee**

Masayuki's phone vibrated and rung, causing him to jump a bit from his seat. He checked to see what it was about and found a message from the department chair asking him to see her in her office about something important. Hori stood up and began preparing himself, all the while mentally recalling if he missed out on something that the chair asked him to accomplish for this week. It was rare for him to miss deadlines (actually he _never_ missed _any_ deadline), and he was sure that all the paperwork needed for the end of the week have been received and submitted, so he pondered on the possible reasons for his summoning. Were any of his students finding trouble with the way he handled his classes? Was he going to be assigned with more research this time? Would he be handling something new for the coming semester? Despite the tiny ray of anxiety hitting him inside, Hori managed not to scare himself unnecessarily as he made his way through the almost empty corridors of the faculty building.

He could hear some chatter and laughter from behind the door to his boss' office. _Ah, he's with someone else, but who can it be?_ He thought as he knocked as loud as possible to make his presence felt. He heard a deep and muffled "come in," before he turned the doorknob and pushed the door open. He was welcomed with the sight of the department chair, smiling, and someone who looked like a college student. _'What's going on?'_

"Good afternoon, Mitsui-sensei." He greeted, bowing.

"Ah, good afternoon, Hori-san!" the department chair greeted warmly, "Have a seat!" She said, gesturing for him to sit on the chair across the student, which he followed.

Masayuki studied the person sitting across him for a bit as the department chair rummaged for some files on her desk. He (or she) seemed like a smile had been permanently plastered on his (or her, _goddamn it, I have to know_ ) face and looked pleasing to the eye, that he had to admit. Said person also seemed to be confident—nice posture, strong aura, and didn't seem like the antsy type at all. He also dressed casually, and if Masayuki could even go there, the person looked dapper in just a polo-shirt and denim pants. ' _New instructor, perhaps?'_ he briefly wondered as he continued studying the person. ' _But whoever this person is, he looks so young._ _Well, you're young yourself, Masayuki_.'

"Anyway, thank you for setting aside some of your free time this afternoon, Hori-san. This'll only be quick, though." The department chair began. "I want you to meet Yuu Kashima from Ryonan University, and she'll be with us for the whole semester for her practicum."

 _'So she's a she.'_ Masayuki glanced back to the student and he was rewarded with a smile from Yuu. Pretty smile from an equally pretty girl. He returned the gesture with a small smile.

"Since we can't give her a class that she'll manage by herself, she'll instead be working alongside you as some sort of teacher assistant. It's up to you how you're going to maximize her practicum hours, and since you'll be the one working with her the most, I'll put you in charge of monitoring her practicum hours and her performance evaluation sheet." The department chair stated, beaming. "Do you have any problems with that arrangement?"

Masayuki's brows furrowed as he felt apprehension kicking in. "Wait, so you're saying that I'll be her mentor? I don't mean to be disrespectful, Mitsui-sensei, but I haven't been part of this department for so long so I'm not quite sure if I should be the one mentoring her." He glanced at the student once again, who seemed to show a bit of hurt ( _I'm sorry!_ ) across her pretty features.

Mitsui-sensei only chuckled. "Oh come on, Hori-san; you may be the youngest here, but you're already one of the best instructors we got. I assure you, you're well fitted for this job." She said, coolly dismissing the nervousness that the young instructor was feeling. "You'll probably get along with her easier since your age difference isn't so far apart." If Masayuki's ears weren't lying, there was a tinge of mischief mixed in Mitsu-sensei's chuckle.

Somehow this felt like he was being set up to an arranged marriage or something.

The young instructor was about to say something when he heard some shuffling across him and screeching of wood on wood as Yuu, the student, stood up and bowed in front of him. "Don't worry, Hori-sensei!" she said rather loudly and without looking up at him, "I'm always ready to serve and learn, and I can be anything you want me to be! I'm now in your hands!"

He alternately looked at his boss and the student in front of him. Mitsui-sensei was smiling amusedly and Yuu still hadn't stood up straight from bowing. Masayuki seemed like anything more he would say wouldn't matter much so with a heavy sigh and a headache threatening to happen, he threw the towel and gave in.

 _What did you get yourself into this time, Masayuki?_

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Super short, but I want to know what your thoughts are about this one, if you have any. :D


	2. First Impressions

**Chapter Two: First Impressions**

Masayuki was sure that he was usually the first teaching staff who came to school an hour before their official time so he was surprised when he arrived and found the faculty door slightly ajar and the air conditioning unit running. He opened the door wider to see who could be intruding at this hour and found Yuu standing beside his desk, stirring a cup of coffee, and it was his mug that she was using. The creaking of the door somehow startled her as she jumped slightly from where she stood, face painted with shock.

' _Oh yeah, I have someone under my wing this term. I have to remember that.'_

"Good morning, Kashima." He greeted, depositing his bag inside one of the shelves in the room. "You're early."

Yuu grinned. "Good morning, Hori-sensei! I thought it'd be a nice way to start your morning by brewing you some coffee!"

She approached him, a bit of spring in her step, with the mug carefully nestled in her hands as she handed him his mug with a 'here you go.' Masayuki received the cup, blowing the steam away out of habit as he listened to how she found out which of the mugs in the pantry were his, thanks to the custodian she met on the way to his office, and how she learned about how he liked his coffee from the same custodian while she waited for the coffee maker to do its thing. But he was too distracted to even listen to everything she was saying when he tasted the coffee she made for him. She was on point with how he liked his morning drink—half a sachet of sugar, one full sachet of cream, and with hotness that wouldn't burn his tongue on the first sip (even he had to try about a dozen times to get it right, and this was _his_ preference already). He closed the door behind him, nodding in approval as he continued to drink.

"Have you eaten anything yet? I brought some sandwiches with me if you haven't had breakfast yet!" His mentee offered cheerfully, lifting a small bag with what he assumed was her lunchbox.

Masayuki wondered how she could be so lively at this hour, when the rest of the world was probably just about to leave their beds and shower. He swore he could almost see rays of sunshine coming from behind her. _At least she's pleasant_ , he noted.

"It's okay, Kashima. I had breakfast at home, and thank you for the coffee." He said, smiling when he saw her eyes lit up. "Anyway, have you eaten yourself?"

Yuu nodded. "And I just had my cup of coffee, too," she said, pointing at the mug on her desk. ' _Really? She brought her own mug on her first day? She feels at home that easily?'_

The young instructor proceeded to his desk and began clearing some of the papers piling on it. "Anyway, would you mind if I run you through today's schedule?"

"Not at all." She assured him. Masayuki gestured for her to sit on the chair beside his desk, which she obeyed almost immediately. "So, how are things going to be like today, sensei?"

"Well, My Tuesdays are pretty hectic..."

Masayuki went on narrating his usual Tuesday schedule. His first class was at nine in the morning, composed of a bunch of freshmen learning Algebra and then the next few hours would be nothing but classes, classes, and more classes. He had a two-hour lunch break which he mostly utilized for further research and class preparation when pressed for time. He had one last class in the late afternoon before wrapping the day. All the while, Yuu patiently listened, nodding and humming in acknowledgement. He was pretty amazed that his overview of today didn't sound convoluted even though he was admittedly a bit distracted with how Yuu looked like when she was eager; she appeared cuter than he wanted. _'Someone punch me. Anyone.'_

"I hope you'll be able to keep up." He finished. "Right now, we have an hour to prepare for the first class. I'm going to give you a brief background of where the class is at right now so that you have an idea, and I'm also going to show you the materials that I have prepared."

Masayuki and Yuu finished their quick orientation, much to the young instructor's delight. He expected his mentee to know and understand the things he was talking about regarding today's discussion, but he was amazed at how fast she was able to digest everything, even providing useful inputs that he hadn't given much thought or considered. Masayuki had never been so satisfied and impressed with any of the students that he encountered until Yuu, for he was also learning from her ideas. He just hoped he didn't look so weird or creepy right now because he knew he was smiling from ear to ear because oh my gosh, thank you Lord for creating such a wonderful masterpiece in the name of Yuu Kashima, from Masayuki Hori.

Yuu stood in front of the white board and began to scribble some ideas on the side while she explained something about classroom management and making discussion about Math more interesting to the students, but then again, he was too busy being in awe by her to pay close attention.

 _Stop staring at Kashima, Masayuki._

"So you see, sensei, instead of the usual discussion, maybe you could include them as the lesson goes on." Yuu turned to face him, but she found him spacing out. "Eh, Hori-sensei? Did you get everything that I said?"

Masayuki shook his head as he came back to reality. "I got the part where you think it'd be a good idea to include them in the discussion instead of the usual way of discussing history. So how to do it?"

Yuu sighed heavily. "I told you earlier, we can use something like a chart where students will write what they _know_ about the subject on the first column," she explained, circling the heading that she wrote earlier, "then you can ask them _what_ they want to know, which goes under the second column, and before the class ends, you have to ask them to write down what they have _learned_ in today's session on the last column. That way you'll be able to assess if they absorbed anything at all." She even wrote the keywords to make a point. "There you have it; assessment and discussion notes in one."

Masayuki looked at the board and absorbed everything written on it. How could she have thought about these things? Where did she even learn these things? _What can you not do, Yuu Kashima?_

"These are all well-thought of. Some of them are alien to me," he murmured as he continued reading her suggestions. He turned to her, smiling. "I'll tell you what; I'll let you handle one of my classes today so I can see how you are inside the classroom, then I'll give you feedback. How does that sound to you?"

The suggestion was worth it. Yuu beamed and jumped up and down in place like an enthusiastic puppy. _A dog, Kashima's like a dog!_ He thought.

"Really, Hori-sensei? You wouldn't mind watching me teach?" Her voice went an octave higher than usual.

He shook his head. She rewarded him with a squeal that sounded almost like music to his ears (even though squeals were generally annoying to hear). Yuu Kashima, he concluded, was too adorable for her own good. _'Someone really needs to punch me now.'_

They walked side by side going to his first class with Yuu inquiring about the class size, the general temperament of the class, and if there were any students to look out for, best and worst. Masayuki gladly humoured her, happy that his mentee was just as enthusiastic as he was about his job. It was like finding something precious in the sea of mess. He told himself to drop by Mitsui-sensei's office during his break to tell her that he was happy with her decision after all.

The room was silent, as if on cue, as soon as Masayuki entered followed shortly by Yuu. The students were all staring at her, and some were even whispering to each other, but she didn't seem to mind the attention. Yuu maintained her composure and confident posture, looking really ready to pour out some arithmetic knowledge to these freshmen. Masayuki was even more excited to see what she was capable of.

"Good morning everyone!" he greeted, projecting his voice so that even the students seated at the back could hear him well. "It's obvious that we have someone new in class. Her name is Yuu Kashima, and she will be my teaching assistant for this term. She is currently a graduating student from Ryonan University and is having her practicum here. I hope you treat her well and be on your best behaviour when she's around. Do you understand?"

A chorus of yeses echoed inside the room.

"Okay, so first things first," he retrieved a clipboard from behind the books and notes that he brought with him. He handed it to Kashima. "This is the attendance sheet. I pass it around at the start of each class. Give it to Hayasaka-san, the boy sitting on the right side of the room." Yuu took the clipboard and did what she was told.

"Okay, class. I won't be the one handling class today—okay, yes, yes, don't be so honest about your feelings, and Akira-san, I heard that!—anyway, let me finish first!" He raised his voice a little louder than usual and waited for the class' chattering to die down until all eyes were on him. He cleared his throat before continuing. "Like I said, I won't be handling class today. Instead, Kashima-sensei will hold today's session so you better not give her a hard time. Understand?"

"Yes, sensei!" The guy from the leftmost part of the room yelled, eliciting some giggling and chuckling from his classmates.

Masayuki sighed heavily and shook his head. "Time to shine, Kashima-sensei." He told her, extending his arm to the platform. Yuu flashed him a grin before climbing the platform and standing in front of everyone. Masayuki grabbed his stuff from the teacher's table and took a seat on one of the empty chairs beside one of his students.

"Good morning, boys and girls! Let me introduce myself again; I'm Yuu Kashima, I'm your Hori-sensei's teaching assistant, and as part of my practicum subject, I have to do this. Please treat me well." She finished her introduction with a bow.

Masayuki watched as she walked towards the whiteboard and drew the chart she talked about with him awhile ago. "Please take out your notebooks or a sheet of paper, and copy the table on the board. Make sure to leave enough space for writing."

He saw his students complying, the sound of shuffling and tearing papers floated inside the classroom. Masayuki opened his notebook, ready to take note of Yuu's performance.

 _Okay, Yuu Kashima, show me what you can do._

The class went much better than he expected. He learned that if Yuu was good at something, it was establishing her presence inside a room full of people. As much as he wished for his students to give his subject the appreciation it deserved, Masayuki had to admit that heavy discussions that included numbers could be pretty painful for anybody who had developed aversion with Math. But with the energy that Yuu had inside her and the way she carried herself, winning over the students wasn't a feat to overcome for her. The discussion was pretty dynamic and organic. Even Masayuki had to keep himself from butting in and joining the discussion because it wasn't his turn to speak.

Yuu had the class work in groups as they evaluated today's discussion. Masayuki continued to watch as she went around the room, chatting with the students about something related to class probably. He even saw some of the girls in his class to be a little tensed when she was around. He could hear her complimenting them on their hair and even their handwriting, making their teenage hearts beat faster than normal and blood rushing to their cheeks. It was amusing, really. _But totally unnecessary,_ he added in his thoughts as he wrote down his observations about her.

The class ended with the students applauding Yuu's first teaching session. Boys cheered and some girls squealed. _Doesn't hurt being popular with your students, I guess,_ he noted. After all, if your students liked you, it'd be easy to get them to listen to you. _Nice one, Kashima._

When it was just them outside the freshman corridor, Yuu turned to Masayuki, shoulders shrugged up, cheeks tainted with a pale shade of pink, and grinning from ear to ear. He found it cute how easy it was for her to shift from being all cutesy and sunshine-y to brimming with confidence and collected in a snap of a finger.

"Hori-sensei! How did I do?" She asked excitedly.

"You did well, Kashima," He began as he opened his notebook to the page where he wrote his observations. "You know how to hold the students' attention well, and your presence was great. The chart did make the discussion more dynamic, and it seems like the students liked the method, too; I've never seen them so eager in class discussion! Everything you said that you will discuss were targeted, which is how things should be," he paused as he read his other notes, "oh, and Kashima, I know it's important to establish your rapport to students and that you're charming, but I don't think it was necessary to excite the girls in class with compliments about their appearances during activity. That could lead to trouble, and you don't want that." Masayuki schooled his face to sport the best stern teacher look he could give to his mentee. Yuu's lips curved down slightly.

"But overall, your first teaching session wasn't a failure. Good job, Kashima!" He patted Kashima's shoulder.

The young lady let out a triumphant 'whooo!', grinning all the while. "Thank you for the feedback, Hori-sensei!" Her arms were about to encircle Masayuki's shoulders, but his reflexes were quick as wind.

"No hugs, okay?" He said, gripping Yuu's wrists until he didn't feel her resisting anymore. She pouted.

"Mkay." She reluctantly agreed. Masayuki had to fight the urge to hit her forehead with his notebook.

He had to recite the same script about Yuu to each of his classes that day, explaining the same things that he announced in his first class, only this time, Masayuki took care of the lectures as Yuu watched on and helped out in facilitating class activities. Her presence was truly appreciated today because his load lightened for a while, especially with class management. He found Yuu's charms to be effective in keeping his students alert and attentive, probably eliciting in them a juvenile desire for the young lady's attention and affirmation. He honestly didn't know how to feel about that at the moment, but Masayuki mentally stored the revelation to use it some time. He also learned that Yuu's energy didn't deplete so easily despite exposure to human interaction for three hours straight. After all, teaching could be pretty draining, especially if there were hardly any breaks in between.

Masayuki tiptoed as he wrote something on the whiteboard. Now, he was completely aware of his lack of height, and people were probably aware of that, too, but nobody _dared_ to point it out to him or he'd go ballistic and ensure that no one _must_ speak of his one insecurity. There was even something akin to an urban legend about him flinging a classmate through a window after offering him a box to step on to just to reach the books in the college library. They never saw the student in school again, as was said in the legend, and interestingly, it got really popular with his freshmen classes. Masayuki usually snickered derisively and dismissed the rumour, but sometimes when he was in the mood to tease, he would offer his class an encore performance if they wanted.

The strain from stretching his arm somehow eased a bit, but when he felt his feet dangling and someone's hands on his torso, and when he heard a collective gasp from behind him, the young instructor knew something was amiss. He looked down, turned his head to see who was carrying him and saw Yuu, smiling innocently from under. She would've looked nicer if she wasn't lifting him up **and in front of his flipping class of all times to do this.** He could feel blood rushing to his cheeks and beads of sweat forming at the side of his head, and his palms went clammy quickly. There was an almost inaudible "oh no, she didn't" from one of his students that made the tension rising inside the classroom rise even more, if that were even possible. But amidst all the gasping, shaking of heads, and clicking of tongues, Yuu didn't seem to be fazed at all, even if Masayuki was already shaking from a great deal of irritation.

"Eh, sensei? Is something wrong?"

 _That's it, Yuu Kashima. You're done for!_

Needless to say, the class ended prematurely with students rushing out of the door, screaming bloody terror and causing a ruckus that alerted the discipline prefect ("This is a school, for God's sake. Behave yourselves!" the prefect yelled) as Masayuki violently reacted to Yuu's attempt to make things easier for her mentor. They were silenced, too, by the way.

When the comical rage died down and Masayuki was back to his senses, Yuu could be seen slumping on his desk inside the faculty, a fresh big lump on her head. The young instructor rubbed the area where he hit her squarely (and with so much force than he expected) to soothe the pain. He still felt a little guilty of inflicting her that injury even if he disliked her method of making things breezier.

"I'm sorry, Hori-sensei," Yuu mumbled, still slumping on the table.

Masayuki only sighed heavily and continued rubbing the injury. "I'm sorry, too, Kashima. It was terrible of me to do that. I get really riled up when it comes to my height."

She slowly straightened up, making him stop what he was doing. Yuu placed her hand on her head and rubbed the injury herself. "I just wanted to help you since I'm also your teaching assistant and I couldn't find a better way to help you reach the top part of the whiteboard so I carried you instead."

He found that he really had no idea how her mind exactly functioned.

"You could've taken the marker and offered to write it down for me instead. That makes a lot more sense to me." He suggested.

"What about stepping on a box instead? I can ask the custodian to bring boxes here so that you won't have to step down and drag it along as you write!" But she was apparently not listening.

He could feel his blood started to boil again as he pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head. Could she even hear what she was saying?

"Oh! A scaffolding! That's right, we could have someone set up some scaffolds here!"

"Are you trying to mock me, Kashima?!"


	3. Day-Off

To **xXKittyEarsXx** : Thank you for reviewing, and for the kind words. :D I hope you also find this chapter to your liking.

And to the other readers who are following/added this story in their favourites list, thank you so much! :)

This chapter's a little longer than the previous ones.

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 **Chapter Three: Day-Off**

"I'll be back before the sun sets, oka-san!" Yuu yelled from the door as she slipped on her shoes and headed out.

The weekend finally arrived, not that she didn't like her week at all, oh no. Practicum was fun, and she absolutely loved the mentor that they assigned for her, but practicum could be pretty tiring, too. On normal days, Yuu would only need to show up in school during her class periods, which meant she could go home ahead if classes were cancelled or if her schedule was done for the day. Practicum schedule was different; she had to come a little earlier than the rest of the school and had to make sure that every task shouldn't be left undone before leaving. She could horse around as much as she wanted as an ordinary student, but now, she had to keep her energy at bay as a temporary teacher assistant. Her mentor had been nothing but responsible and serious about his job, and Yuu was grateful that he actually made her do stuff instead of just watching him go through his day and brew him some coffee or something (which she didn't mind so much because she actually liked making coffee for him even if he kept on insisting that he could do that by himself. Yuu merely dismissed that as Masayuki being shy to have others do errands for him).

So far, she had taught one class, helped him organize the contents of his lectures, and even attended her first department meeting ever! She wondered if the students in her batch also had an internship experience like hers. Practicum could be a lot like lottery after all; you'd either hit the jackpot or not. From some of the stories she heard from various upperclassmen, some students had it really bad during internship; they either did a lot of odd jobs for the employees or just bored themselves to death with a lot of dead-air. Yuu smiled as she recounted her first week as a teacher assistant.

The faculty of the Math, Science, and Technology Department with whom she currently "worked" with were warm and easy to get along with. Even the older teachers weren't difficult and stuck-up, much to her relief. Her favourite moments (aside from watching Hori-sensei facilitate his classes) with them were during lunch breaks, when some of the teachers would gather in the pantry and discuss the funniest things that happened in their classes or the darnedest, too, and make sarcastic comments about it ("You're probably surprised right now, but this is what we normally talk about during breaks. Your professors at your school probably do the same thing." She recalled him saying the first time she had lunch with them). It amused her to know that teachers and students were pretty similar in a lot of ways; they talked about each other, they devoted a lot of time studying, and they all had deadlines to meet to name a few. Not to mention, teachers also found people in authority fearsome, something she found interesting.

She also found the students endearing. Even though Hori-sensei was a strict instructor, Yuu believed that the students actually were fond of him. Why wouldn't they be? He was smart, he never came to class unprepared, and even if he was scary when he was angry, his face shone every time his students understood the math problems he gave them daily. _'Like a young dad to his forty plus children,'_ she concluded.

"What are you smiling about, Kashima-kun?" Her friend, Chiyo, asked, her wide eyes painted with curiosity.

Oh yeah, right. They were now seated on one of the booths inside their favourite desserts place after watching a movie (by Yuzuki's request), but here she was, being such a nice friend by zoning out in the middle of some conversation that she had lost track of.

Yuu blinked several times before responding. "Oh, I'm so sorry, I wasn't paying attention. I was just thinking about practicum, that's all." She finished her statement with an awkward chuckle.

"Then what is it about your practicum that made you smile so much?" Chiyo asked, her tone dripping with mischief.

"And you're like, shining or something." Yuzuki added, casting a suspicious look. "Weird."

Yuu's smile widened. "I like my workplace, I like my department, and most of all, I like my mentor!" she exclaimed. "He's such a fun person to work with!"

She missed the exchanging of glances between Chiyo and Yuzuki as Yuu babbled on about the greatness that was Masayuki Hori, standing only as tall as Yuzuki, responsible and industrious, though at times stern. She told them about the first time he let her facilitate his class, and their late afternoon sessions which mostly consisted of preparing for next day's activities and checking drills. She also told them how he would sometimes treat her to snacks when they didn't have so much to do in between classes. She also recounted the first time she found out about how insecure he was about his height, and the time he almost flung a chair towards her because she called him cute ("Because he is! Even if he dismisses it," was what she said). She missed the horror in Chiyo's eyes and the sparkle in Yuzuki's since Yuu was pretty absorbed talking about her 'precious mentor,' as she now referred to him.

"Well, so anyway, overall, Hori-sensei's a pretty likable person! I'm so happy he's the one I ended up working closely with! He's amazing!"

"This, Hori-sensei..." Yuzuki trailed off, also absorbed in her own thoughts. "I wonder how he _really_ looks like in person."

Yuu was about to describe him in detail, when her peripheral vision caught a glimpse of a familiar mop of brown hair. "You won't have to wonder anymore, Yuzuki!" She quickly stood up from her seat, but didn't run ahead without turning to her friends. "I'm sorry, I'll be back! This'll be fast!"

Yuu stormed outside the place, hurrying to catch her precious mentor before he could even walk further. "Hori-sensei!" she called out, still dashing and trying not to bump into as many people as she could as she traversed the street. "Hori-sensei!"

Said Hori-sensei managed to catch her soprano. She could see him looking for her in the sea of people, carrying two bags of groceries on his arms. Yuu picked up her pace and waved when she was sure that the young man's eyes met hers. "Hori-sensei, wait up!"

And he did. She slowed down to a jog as she neared him, happy that he actually did wait for her. "I'm so glad to see you here, Hori-sensei!" she managed to say in between short breaths. "Anyway, are you busy?"

"I have to get this back to the house and do some chores. Why?"

Yuu evened her breathing first. "Well, you see, I was talking to my friends about practicum, and I told them about you. Now, I want you to meet them since you're here already!"

"Meet your friends?" he repeated, face flashing a confused look, "Why?"

She giggled. "Yuzuki was wondering how you really look like, then I spotted you, so why not?"

When she saw him frown and his brows furrowed, Yuu pouted and grabbed him by the shoulders. "Oh, come on, sensei! This'll be fun! You get to meet my friends, and they get to meet you, too!"

"But, Kashima I—"

"They wouldn't mind!" She assured him as she walked behind him and began pushing him back to the direction of the desserts place. "At least you'd finally meet Chiyo and Yuzuki since I talk about them a lot, too."

"What about—"

Yuu clicked her tongue. "We won't keep you for long, Hori-sensei. Just join us for some dessert or something!"

"I don't like sweet things that much, Kashima."

"I know, but they have other things beside sweet things. Like tea!"

She heard him sigh in defeat. "Well, since you're practically leading me to where you guys are, I guess I have no choice but to humour you this once."

"Yay!" she exclaimed. Yuu's hands let go of his shoulders as she managed to hug him this time (only because he couldn't do anything to prevent it because he couldn't see her) from behind. "You're the best, Hori-sensei!"

"I said no hugs, Kashima!"

The walk back to the desserts place was peaceful with only Yuu's cheery humming and their almost synchronized footsteps breaking their silence. Yuu pushed the door open for him since his arms were occupied with grocery bags (she insisted to help him carry one of the bags, but he declined) at the moment. "They're over there by the corner." She told him as they walked towards the corner booth.

"Hey guys! This is _the_ Hori-sensei I was talking about earlier." She stretched her hand, pointing at the direction where Masayuki was standing. "Come on, sensei! Join us!"

Masayuki, left with no choice, joined them like he was told to, sitting beside Yuu as she scooted on the couch to make room for him. "Good afternoon, ladies. I didn't expect to actually meet you this soon, but now that we're all here, nice to meet everyone." Masayuki arranged his grocery bags first on the floor, before turning back to Yuu's friends and smiling. "She actually talks a lot about her friends during breaks."

Yuu grinned sheepishly at her friends. "Well, I made sure not to tell embarrassing things!"

Chiyo's face turned purple and Yuzuki's eyebrow rose. Yuu relented. "Okay, fine. Maybe like little bits like how you talk in your sleep, Yuzuki, and how you get flustered easily, Chiyo-chan, but I swear not the ones you don't even want to talk about." She mumbled under her breath.

Chiyo shook her head as she made a face at Yuu. "Well, anyway, since your mentor's here already," she turned to face the young man seated across her and smiled, "I'm Chiyo Sakura, and this is Yuzuki Seo." She lifted her hand and pointed at the girl beside her. Yuzuki only smirked.

"Nice to finally match the names with the faces," he nodded his head as he studied the two girls before fixing his attention to Yuu. "So where's the other one? The one you claim to be your best friend?"

Yuu grinned. "Oh, Mikoshiba? He's also here!"

Masayuki shot her a puzzled look. "Here? Where?"

Yuzuki raised her arm and waved it. "Yo, stud! Come here!"

Said stud, clad in a typical waiter outfit consisting of a white blouse, black trousers, and an apron wrapped around the waist, turned at the sound of Yuzuki's voice. The only untypical about him was his screaming red locks. He grabbed a menu from the countertop and sauntered towards the booth. "Got any additional orders? Oh," he said as he spotted the odd one in the group, "a college junior?"

Yuu didn't miss the annoyance in Masayuki's features. _'He's so cute even when he's annoyed,'_ she thought, fighting off the giggle threatening to bubble out of her mouth. "No, silly! He's the one I told you about, Mikoshiba. Meet my mentor, Hori-sensei!"

"Oh! It's nice to finally meet you, Hori-sensei!" He said, sounding friendly all of a sudden. "My bad. I thought you were one of their juniors. Anyway, I'm Mikoto Mikoshiba, Kashima's best friend." The young man said, bowing at Masayuki.

"Nice to meet you, too, although I find it odd how convenient everything is meeting all of Kashima's friends here." Masayuki mumbled the last part to himself. "Anyway, do you have anything that's not too sweet?"

"We do." Mikoto turned the laminated card on the other side before handing it to Masayuki. "We have hot and iced brewed tea, and coffee."

The young man retrieved the menu from the younger man's hand and scanned the selection of drinks. "I'll have iced peppermint tea, I guess." He stated, handing the menu back to Mikoto. "No syrup or anything to go with it, please."

"Okay, that's one glass of iced peppermint tea without syrup or anything to go with it." Mikoto repeated, jotting it down to the notepad that he had conveniently place inside his pants back pocket. "Your order will be available in five minutes." He flashed a small smirk before turning to leave.

Masayuki looked at Yuu who was currently flashing the biggest grin she could manage. "What are the odds that I'll spot you around this area? The universe must be on my side, huh?" she said, nudging him.

"Of course you'll find me around this area. I live near here." He said nonchalantly, running a hand through his tousled hair to fix it.

Yuu's eyes lit up. "How about I go there some time?"

Masayuki frowned. "I don't think that's a good idea."

"But why? I could help you check some of the papers that you bring home. We can even have dinner together at your house. I can cook dinner for you, if you want. What do you li—"

"Kashima, there's no need for that, I assure you."

The pair easily slid into some sort of argument not-argument over after school hours schedule that Chiyo and Yuzuki couldn't help but feel suddenly pushed in the background as if they were watching some couple decide on something petty like where to eat or what movie to watch. Chiyo watched on with interest. Yuzuki, on the other hand, seemed to be _immensely_ bothered by something with the way her forehead creased and her eyes narrowed.

"You know," Yuzuki whispered after scooting closer to Chiyo to make sure the pair seated before them wouldn't hear anything. "I'm a little disappointed with the real Hori-sensei, no offense."

Chiyo shot her a puzzled look. "Huh?" She felt Yuzuki's elbow on her waist.

"I mean look at him. Does that guy look scary to you? He's... tiny. And he doesn't look like he has a lot of muscles, too."

"Well, he did seem a little different from how I imagined him, but only Kashima-kun knows. Maybe he's really amazing like she told us earlier."

"Guess so," Yuzuki agreed, shrugging her shoulders.

Chiyo giggled. "I wonder though, if Kashima-kun has realized it."

"Eh? Realized what?"

Chiyo wiggled her eyebrows. "Look closely, Yuzuki."

Yuzuki was just about to do that but their orders came. Mikoto carefully placed the parfaits and the glass of iced tea on the table. She decided to look closely some other time (if there would be another time to actually do it); anyway, she was already hungry.

"I'm assuming you're all education majors?" Masayuki asked as he stirred his tea.

"Art Ed," Chiyo replied.

"Social Studies," Yuzuki followed shortly.

"We all see each other in the same building, so naturally we ended up being friends!" Yuu supplied.

The young lady went on to narrate how they first met. She met Chiyo on the first day, right after freshman welcome assembly, where she stood in the middle of the school theatre, looking lost and a bit rattled when they were dismissed. Yuu approached her, older sister instinct kicking in, and decided to play the reliable older sister to the very cute and panicked Chiyo ("Oh, come on, Kashima-kun! I'm pretty sure I didn't look like a lost kid back then!"). Yuzuki found them and stuck with them. Since most of their freshman classes were pretty much the same subjects (Ed Philo, Ed Psych, and Ed Socio, to name a few), they ended up in the same class, sitting on the same row, and being in the same group for the whole semester. They've been inseparable ever since.

"So that's pretty much how it all began, and now we're all taking our practicum courses and graduating in a few months time." Yuu managed to finish half of her parfait in the middle of gabbing.

"Senior year in college can be pretty tough." Masayuki commented; his eyes focused on his drink. "Sometimes I miss college, though."

"Are you going to tell us about how you're like during college?" ' _I hope you would!'_

The young man smirked at Yuu's direction. "No." The young lady pouted. He diverted his attention to the other ladies with him. "Now, that Kashima's finished with her turn talking," he emphasized on the word 'finished' while glancing at her before continuing. "How's Kashima like at school?"

Yuu nearly choked on her food.

Yuzuki perked up at the topic. "She's really flirty."

Masayuki flashed a naughty smirk when he glanced her way again. Yuu could feel her cheeks beginning to feel warm. Before she could even defend herself, Chiyo was already raising her hand, a mischievous grin on her lips.

"Even though Kashima-kun's a star student, she plays hooky most of the time."

"Even you, Chiyo-chan?!" Yuu whined. _'Okay, this has got to stop!'_

There was a glint in Yuzuki's eyes before speaking. "One time, Kashima forgot to wear her bra to school just because she woke up late and has an ugly tendency to be absentminded, so she had to use masking tape to—"

A loud thud on the table echoed in the booth as Yuu stood up, fists curled and hurting a bit from the impact. "Hey! There's barely anything here, okay," she even held her breasts to prove a point, "but that one time, I was nearing my period so it was slightly swollen than usual!"

The young man seated beside them instantly turned a shade of red at the great reveal of this weekend. Eyes wide and still shell shocked at the story and Yuu voicing out her side, Masayuki decided to step in. "Okay, that's enough!" he yelled, pulling the young lady beside him to sit again. "And that was too much information, Kashima!" He chided.

Somehow, the impromptu meet-the-mentor ended up with Yuu being the star of the conversation, much to her embarrassment and chagrin. She had never been this assaulted with shame in her life, what with the revelations that Chiyo and Yuzuki ("It's payback for telling Hori-sensei our embarrassing moments behind our backs!") dropped in the face of her precious mentor, of all people. He seemed to be enjoying the dirt he asked for, and here she was, trying her best to be a mentee that was worthy of Masayuki's praise! How was she going to face him on Monday? _How was she going to face him today?_

With her face buried in her hands and her hands resting on the table, Masayuki asked for the bill and announced that today's desserts were on him, much to the other ladies' delight (and hers, too, of course). Choruses of "Kashima-kun was right when she told us you're great," and "Thank you, Hori-sensei!" could be heard in their area.

"This conversation had been fun," she heard him sigh and felt him shuffle in his seat as the sound of grocery bags being lifted filled her ears. "But I have to leave now. I still have chores to attend to at home."

Yuu slightly lifted up her head and looked at Masayuki's direction. "I guess, I'll see you on Monday, Hori-sensei."

Masayuki smiled at her. "Yeah, I'll see you." Yuu took it as her cue to go into hiding again.

"I'll see you guys around, too. Goodbye!"

"Bye, Hori-sensei! Thanks for the treat!"

"Yeah, we hit the jackpot!"

When Yuu was sure that her mentor wasn't with them anymore, she carefully lifted up her head from her hands, revealing a rosy red face. She wasn't really used to being bashful of anything being the usual cheery and confident lass that she was, but for some reason, knowing that Masayuki knew something so personal about her (something she really had no plans telling him even in the near future) made her feel a little uncomfortable. _'My poor, poor image just circled down the drain.'_

"Hey, Kashima!" Yuzuki piped. "Invite your Hori-sensei again next time we eat, okay?" Yuu only groaned.

Mikoto, now in his casual outfit, swiftly sat on the unoccupied seat beside them. "My shift is done," he said. "What happened to you?" He asked when he saw how Yuu's face could rival the colours of red roses.

"Let's just say her mentor knows a lot about her more than he should." Chiyo looked at Yuzuki and smirked. "Don't worry, Kashima-kun; it's not like he's going to think you're weird when you see him again."

"But he will." She was pretty sure she looked just about like a kid who was refused candy. "What if he will?" Yuu shook her head.

"Relax, Kashima. It's not like you guys are together or something." Yuzuki waved her hand in dismissal, before pausing and flashing a serious look at her friend and gasping. "Kashima, are you keeping something from us?"

Mikoto's head was faster than the wind. "No fair, Kashima! I'm your best friend! Best friends are supposed to confide in each other."

Yuu waved her hands frantically. "He's only my mentor! I swear!"

In the end, it was futile trying to convince her friends that there truly was nothing going on between them except mutual respect (or that was what she'd like to believe). But she didn't forget Yuzuki's suggestion to invite her precious Hori-sensei again on their next side trip. Never mind the part where her girl friends got too excited spilling her best kept secrets (she still had to remind herself to disregard that memory and bury it in the deepest recesses of her subconscious) because it did make her happy that he relented to her request and joined them for some dessert (or tea, in his case). When Yuu was back in her room and had settled in her house clothes, she fished for her phone inside her bag.

" _Good evening, Hori-sensei. Thanks for humouring my request! My friends enjoyed your company, too. I'm happy! See you on Monday! :D_

 _P.S. Please disregard everything my friends said about me."_

She placed her phone on her desk, not really expecting a reply, but she nearly jumped off her bed when her phone vibrated and rung. Yuu retrieved it and read her mentor's message.

" _I'll try. I enjoyed everyone's company, too. See you Monday."_

Yuu couldn't pinpoint why she felt so light and happy that night as she readied herself for bed. In fact, she was engulfed with joy that she ended up dreaming about another day at school with her precious Hori-sensei. The young lady smiled in her sleep. She couldn't wait for Monday to arrive.


	4. Aren't You A Gem?

**Chapter Four: Why Aren't You A Gem?**

"What do you usually do during your free time before this whole practicum thing happened?" Yuu asked her mentor as they ate their lunch together inside the faculty pantry.

Masayuki opened his lunch boxes and placed them separately in front of him before he replied. "Hmm, I either review my lessons or check my handouts if there were any items I missed during editing. I use some of my free time to check some of the exercises, too."

"Sounds really boring," she murmured as she munched her food. "But yeah, I'll probably do that a lot, too, when I become a teacher myself."

He nodded. "That's why you should get used to it as early as now." He said before proceeding with his lunch. Masayuki paused when he noticed that Yuu was only staring at him while he ate. "Is there something wrong, Kashima?"

The young lady shook her head. "I just wonder how you're able to survive doing so much work and not having a bit of fun once in a while."

Masayuki smirked. "What if my idea of fun is different from yours? Have you ever considered that I may actually be having fun doing work?"

She shrugged her shoulders as she continued eating. "Well, whatever floats your boat, Hori-sensei."

They finish lunch with an hour to spare. Masayuki took her to the library to retrieve some books in the teacher's resources section. He thought she was probably going to need to know where it was in case she wanted to look over the manuals when she didn't have anything better to do so he let her follow him around like a hungry kitten in the street, or a lost puppy. She didn't seem to mind trailing him at all as it showed in the previous days, he thought.

Masayuki waited for the lights inside the MST Department's resource section to stop flickering before he walked inside and headed for the shelves where they kept copies of the Math books and manuals that the students were required to use. The only indication that Yuu was still with him was the soft clacking of her shoes on the floor as they walked to the last few shelves in the leftmost part of the room.

"This section is mostly reserved for Mathematics resources. It has everything we need for our lessons, so writing lesson plans are quite easier." He told her without looking up, his eyes glued on the spines of the book as he searched for his favoured reference book. "We also have some guides on how to teach seemingly difficult topics in math in case you run out of ideas on how to make it more relevant for the students or something," he continued to babble on as he began to retrieve books within his reach.

The young man stretched his arm to reach one of the manuals sitting in between heavy books with a little difficulty. _'Stupid height, stupid arm that can't reach easily,'_ he chanted angrily in his thoughts as he made another attempt, this time in his tiptoes, to reach the top of the spine only to be overtaken by Yuu's hand as she effortlessly reached out and pulled the book out of its shelf. Masayuki saw her beaming as she handed the book to him. "You don't have to worry about hard to reach places as long as I'm here, Hori-sensei." She gleefully declared, causing his irritation to bubble up. His grip tightened on the book, but not enough to crumple its soft bound cover.

"Stop it with the height, Kashima, or I'll chuck all these books I'm holding to your pretty face!" He threatened, but his voice was empty of malice. ' _Wait did I just openly admitted that I do find her pretty?'_ But before he could even eat his own words, Yuu's face glowed and the smile she wore became wider. _'Masayuki, what has gotten into you all of a sudden?'_

"Waaaah!" she exclaimed, but not so loud that the librarian would send them out, "Hori-sensei finds me pretty!" Yuu tried to compose herself, a tinge of pink colouring her cheeks, before opening her mouth to speak. "If anything, I really find you cute, sensei!" She nonchalantly admitted. _'Confessed? What the hell are you, Kashima?'_ Masayuki dropped his head as he tried to hide the possible blush creeping in his cheeks. This time he was torn between feeling elated for being complimented (even if it were the least compliment he wanted to hear from her, or from anyone else actually) or following through with his earlier threat of chucking all the books to her face until her radiant grin left. He settled for kicking Yuu on her shin instead.

"Oh come on, sensei, you don't have to be shy about it!" She still managed to kid as she lifted her leg up to rub where he hit her.

But this only made him even more embarrassed than he was earlier.

This time he let Yuu carry some of the books back to the library just to make her stop bugging him about how teaching assistants were supposed to be of service to the actual teachers. They reached his desk and directed to her where she could place the other books as he began to arrange all the materials and resources that had accumulated in his side of the faculty room.

"What are you doing?" She asked as she looked over his shoulders.

Masayuki looked up to face her. "I'm arranging the books and grouping them based on how long it'll take me to finish reading them in two weeks."

He looked on in curiosity as Yuu manoeuvred her way near him, eyes shining and teeth showing as she smiled. Then he saw her arms beginning to encircle around him. "Oh my gosh, sensei, you're so adorable!" She gushed, arms closing in on his torso, but Masayuki's reflexes were quick. His hands were already wrapped around her wrist as he stopped her from completely hugging him.

"Damn it, Kashima! Can you please take me seriously?"

She only frowned in response before she shook her wrists free from his grasp. "Fine," she mumbled. "Is there anything I can help you with while you're arranging your books?"

Masayuki pondered for a while. "Would you mind if I ask you to check next week's topics and mark the pages with these," he paused with his instructions as he handed her a set of tiny post-its in different colours, "so that it'll be easier to compare and contrast how the same topics are approached by different publishers? That way we can effectively choose which method would be more apt for the students."

"Okay, Hori-sensei! You can trust me with that!" She confidently declared as she took the set of post-its from his hand and proceeded to where the teacher binders were kept to do just what she was told. Masayuki couldn't stop himself from smiling, no matter how small, at how eager she always was when it came to helping him. _'I'll just have to get used to her antics, I guess.'_

Yuu happily hummed as she finished the last of her notes and stuck the big white post-it she borrowed from Masayuki a few minutes ago on the last page about the Fibonacci sequence. She felt even more accomplished since she outdid her beloved (she decided she would refer him this way as a form of secret endearment) mentor's expectations by adding notes and comments which she believed could be of great help to him. She even thought of suggesting some methods that he could use for motivating the class before the lesson proper. _'Maybe we could hold one session outside school so that they would have a bit of exploratory learning,'_ Yuu smirked as she continued to think of other ways to help her mentor create a friendlier atmosphere during his Math classes.

"Hori-sensei, what abo—" She was about to tell him everything that her mind just churned when she saw him slumped on his desk, eyes closed and breathing evenly. Yuu tried to approach him as quietly as she could to confirm if he was feeling okay or just sleeping.

He didn't look like he was burning with fever since he wasn't red all over, but Yuu recalled that he did look a bit tired while they ate their lunch together. In the number of days that she had been under his mentorship, the first thing that she noticed and learned about her mentor was he seemed to be engrossed with his job for the most part. Perhaps his body couldn't take it that it just willed for him to rest a little? His head was nestled in his arms, and his arms rested on the book he was reading. Yuu also noticed the loose paper tucked under his elbow with his scribbling on it. She looked closer and saw equations, suggesting that he might have even been trying to solve the exercises to see how easy or difficult it would be for the students. The young lady didn't fight the fond smile crossing her lips. She had said it a million times, but she would say it still; she's so happy that her mentor was Masayuki Hori, ever reliable and concerned with his students. _'Not to mention he's so adorable, too, and easy to work with!'_

She carefully took his mug from the corner of his desk and made her way to the pantry. She washed it first as she waited for the coffee to brew. She also helped herself with some of the snacks that the canteen provided for them, saving some for Masayuki when he woke up. She grabbed a small plate on the dish rack, placed a big croissant for him, and took his mug from the table. She happily exited the pantry, carrying her little surprise for her hardworking mentor. Yuu was proud of herself that she still remembered how he liked his coffee, but of course, she had it down accurately since she had appointed herself to be his coffee maker or something every morning. And what made it even more worth waking up early for was the satisfied look that he radiated every time he finished drinking his cup.

When she returned to the faculty room, he was still sound asleep and was even slightly snoring. _'He must be really tired,'_ she concluded, stifling the giggle that could wake him up if she wasn't careful.

Yuu cleared his desk first, but making sure not to touch any of the stuff that he had within his reach. _'Don't want to upset him, now do you?'_ she told herself as she slowly removed some books and stacks of paper to clear the area. When she was satisfied with the small space she was able to create, the young lady retrieved his snack and coffee from the common table and placed it on his desk. She scribbled something on a loose paper that she found littered in his stuff. 'I brewed some coffee for you,' she wrote, 'but it might be cold by the time you wake up. I hope you still finish it, though, since it's made the way you want it, and made with so much love. You can do it, Hori-sensei!' Yuu didn't forget to sign her name of course, and for good measure, she even added a heart after her name. "Because I really did make it with love," she whispered to herself, grinning in satisfaction, as she stepped away from his space to go back to studying next week's topic.

Masayuki woke up with a start. He dreamt that he was already inside the classroom and getting on with the introduction of their new lesson, but something was off-putting; there was no Yuu in the room, sitting on one corner of the room, taking down notes, and roaming the classroom during activities to help him address the queries that the students have for them. That was when his eyes opened, and it dawned to him that he unabashedly let himself succumb to the call of sleep in the middle of his working hours. He frantically searched for his phone to check the time and he sighed in relief when he saw that he still had fifteen minutes to prepare himself for his last class of the day. Lucky for him, he was the only one supposed to occupy the room around this time, or it would've been embarrassing to be caught falling asleep on the job, his _first job_ , to be specific. Masayuki looked around and saw a plate of croissant and his mug beside it. Under the plate was a piece of paper. He reached for the paper and read the note that Yuu left for him and cringed. "Made with so much love? Are you even real, Kashima?" he loudly said, but then he suddenly noticed the lack of Yuu Kashima inside the place. "Huh?"

He stood up, note still in his hand, and looked over the common table where he last saw her working. Masayuki stood up and approached the table hastily. He saw that she had done everything he asked of her and even went as far as taking note of the lessons he only asked her to mark. He went back to his desk, grabbed his mug, and sat on her chair, reading the things she wrote about each of the topics for next week.

Masayuki Hori could feel his insides welling up in appreciation because Yuu Kashima was indeed the most wonderful creation to ever be born this planet.

His mulling was stopped short when the door to the faculty room opened revealing Yuu with more books resting on her arms. "Oh, sensei! You're awake now," she obviously pointed out as she closed the door behind her. "And you're drinking the coffee I made you." Yuu smiled and her voice softened.

Masayuki couldn't find it in his heart to come up with a sarcastic retort to her obvious statements even though he found that it was his most natural reaction to her. He settled for a small smile instead.

"How was your nap, sensei?" She asked as she dragged one of the chairs surrounding the common table opposite him and sat across him. "I just came from the student lounge. Some of your students came by a few minutes ago to ask you about their drills, but I didn't want to disturb you since you might be really tired, so I volunteered to help them instead. I'd say the impromptu study group went well. I hope you don't mind."

He only looked at her, but his face was blank. He could tell that this somehow rattled the young lady as her eyes searched for any affirmation from him.

"I made sure not to stray away from what you've discussed with them in class!" She added nervously, her usual force field of confidence showing inconsistencies with its system. "Should I have woken you up instead? Is that what you would've wanted, sensei? I mean, we haven't really talked about how to go about to things like earlier if there were protocols of some sort." Her voice faltered even if she went on rambling. Yuu almost looked like a kid waiting for her parents' onslaught of sermons over things she shouldn't have done and should've done instead that the young man had to keep his hand from flying to her head to pat her affectionately.

While Masayuki didn't deny that he enjoyed the air of confidence that his mentee always exhibited around people especially, he also found that he wouldn't mind getting used to this side of her, for it was strangely endearing. Not only was she the most wonderful of all creation, she was also so, so precious. _And you are greatly screwed, Masayuki Hori_ , he reminded himself.

"I'm not mad at you, Kashima, if you think I'm about to berate you for letting me sleep on my job." He assured her first. "If anything, I'm pretty satisfied with your performance, and you have helped me tremendously in the past days that I'm pretty sure I'm way ahead of everyone with deadlines." The young man paused, thinking of more things to say to his mentee as his eyes found its way to his mug. "Plus you really nailed my coffee preference at such a short time, so there's really no reason for me to get mad."

Yuu sighed in relief, closing her eyes and holding her hand to her chest. "I'm glad you're not mad, sensei."

He chuckled. "Why would I be? Oh, and good job with taking note about the topics. I read them and I'm impressed." _'Seriously, though, what can you not do?'_

He saw the glimmer in her eyes as she perked up at the compliment. "You really think so, sensei? If you want I'll do it all to your lessons and even help you write your plans if only to make you happy!"

Masayuki smirked and tried to disregard the fact that his stomach somersaulted several times at her desire to make him happy. "I'll take care of the plans, okay. But if you want, you can help me make my lessons even more interesting since you seem to be good with that."

"Yay!" she candidly replied.

"Anyway, you've been really helpful and efficient these two weeks. Do you have any plans after school?" He casually asked, but realizing a minute later the implication of his invitation. _'It's not like I'm going to ask her out on a romantic date or anything. Calm the hell down, Masayuki.'_

But if Yuu had been the type to read in between the lines all the time, she'd be mistaken. Luckily, she wasn't the type to do so all the time. "Well, Mikoshiba's pretty busy with his part-time work, and Chiyo-chan and Yuzuki haven't called me up yet, so I guess there's none. Why?"

"I thought it'd be nice to treat you out to anything you like after our work's done. As a reward, of course." He quickly added the last statement to announce (and remind himself) what he truly intended (or what his intentions should be).

Yuu shot him a puzzled look. "But you've always treated me to snacks, Hori-sensei. I won't be surprised if at the end of this term, I'd be able to save up so much of my allowance." She chuckled lightly.

"No, Kashima. Those times I treated you to snacks were because you and I _need_ to eat to replenish our energy. This time, it's because I _want_ to pay you back for not being a pain in the ass most of the time." Because despite of her constant teasing with his height and how cute he truly was without trying, Masayuki did not always find her to be painful to deal with.

Her eyes lit up as understanding dawned to her. "You're really going to treat me later to anything I like, Hori-sensei?"

The young man nodded. "Just make sure you don't screw up on our next class or I might change my mind."

Yuu jumped up from her seat and bounced like an energetic bunny, which he found oddly endearing even if it were childish. Screw his coolness and he might as well break the walls he had been busy building, because right this instant, everything that Yuu Kashima would do in the name of making him happy was definitely endearing.


	5. It's a Date Then And So Much More

Updating now, because I would be out of town during the weekends. :D

 **kally-kal:** Thank you for finding this cute! I hope you find this new chapter cute, too! :D

 **lovehighlighter:** Thank you for taking time to read this and for the kind words! I was actually kind of scared that it might drown in the ocean of all the other Hori and Kashima posts over tumblr, so it makes me happy that you found it! :D I'll also look for the typo and edit it after reading the first chapter again. Thank you for pointing that out. Although English isn't my first language, I try to make it a point to use it properly (and as a former teacher myself, it kinda makes me feel ashamed of myself having typos and such when I point typos and such to my students on a regular basis hahahahaha!), so that is much appreciated. :D I've also read some of your stories, too, here, and I enjoyed them all. :D Keep writing, okay? :D

I made this chapter a little longer than the previous chapters because I got carried away. :| I tend to be indulgent when it comes to words sometimes, too. But anyway, I hope you guys enjoy reading this chapter.

And as the chapter title implies, our favourite pair goes on a date. Well, sort of.

* * *

 **Chapter Five: It's A Date Then. And So Much More**

Yuu honestly found it difficult to focus on their last class because all that her head had been repeating since they left the faculty room was her short notice rendezvous with her beloved mentor. It would be an understatement to say that she was happy because she was in fact, brimming with so much excitement that she feared she would just explode any moment soon. Luckily for her, she had most of the math formulae imprinted in her brain that when the students did ask for her assistance in the exercises, she knew how to respond without sounding so aloof.

' _Focus, Kashima, focus. Only thirty minutes left until work hours are over.'_ She chanted in her thoughts as she went back to facilitating the last set of activities like clockwork.

If anybody noticed Yuu's strange fixation on the faculty room's wall clock, nobody brought it up. She had to keep herself from checking the time every five minutes just to see if it was fine for them to leave. The sound of things shuffling, zippers closing, and tables being cleaned didn't help the anxiety building up inside since she had long packed up. When her beloved Hori-sensei would tell her that it was time to scram, she would be ready. Right now, a group of freshmen students begged him to give them a crash course on linear equations because they were having a tough time comprehending how everything worked. Yuu tapped her fingers on his now orderly desk, which she decided to arrange while he was out, hoping it would calm her nerves, but it didn't.

Yuu was feeling a lot of things simultaneously. Her heart was beating faster than normal because of excitement and anticipation, and her stomach was doing weird motions inside that she wouldn't be surprised to find her organs in disarray should the doctors decide to dissect her for medical research. She nearly jumped on her seat when the sound of the door opening echoed inside the busy faculty room. Masayuki had just finished his session with the freshmen, it seemed. Yuu was practically beaming like a million gems when their eyes met as he approached his desk.

She stood up and pointed at his organized table. "Look, Hori-sensei. You don't have to spend another minute cleaning up your messy desk because I had it organized while you were gone."

She tried to ignore the fact that her stomach had been trying its hardest to jump out of her when she heard him snicker. "So you're really that excited, huh?" He looked up at her with a small smile on his face. "Thank you, Kashima."

"Anything for Hori-sensei." Yuu casually uttered in a sing-song manner.

She was practically dragging him out of the building as soon as he had recorded his timeout through the bundee clock, arm laced around his, ignoring the slight discomfort of having to walk with her posture leaning a bit on the right. She supposed it'd be easier if it were Masayuki who clung on to her like she was doing to him now, but just to spare herself from being sent to the next world and not being able to spend time with her mentor after work hours, Yuu decided not to suggest anything and ruin everything. Actually, the fact that Masayuki allowed her to drag him out the building without much protest was already an improvement with how their normal interactions went. She hummed cheerily as she adjusted her hold in his arm. If he found it not to his liking, Masayuki didn't say anything about it so her arm remained entwined.

"Oh yeah, Kashima, I almost forgot."

Yuu snapped and glanced at her companion. "What is it, sensei?"

"What do you want to eat?" Masayuki cocked his head to the side and looked at her.

She grinned. "Crepes!"

He frowned. "But that's not _food,_ food."

"I know that, sensei. But you asked me what I want to eat. I want to eat crepes."

She felt him shrug his shoulder. "I did say I'll treat you to anything you like, so crepes it is." He relented.

Yuu's delight could be felt when she squeezed his arm in response. "Hori-sensei is so nice!"

The late afternoon breeze wasn't too cold to make them shiver, but enough to cool them as they walked under the sun. Sunset wouldn't happen until an hour or so. The busy street was still illuminated, though with a hint of gold, the first of the few signs that evening was about to come. They went to a different cafe this time, just a few blocks away from shopping establishments and the school. Yuu practically leapt on the empty table by the corner; it was perfect. It didn't obscure the whole view of the cafe or their table from the eyes of the waiters and waitresses, but it provided them with enough privacy for any personal talks that might arise, plus the background music hardly reached them audibly from that area. Masayuki followed her, an amused expression written all over his face.

A waitress came to them shortly, handing each of them their menu. Yuu gleefully browsed through the many crepe options as Masayuki's glances shifted from the menu to his assistant. When their orders had been taken and the waitress left them, the young man took this as his cue to start talking.

"You seem awfully chipper than usual." He stated. "It's becoming weird."

"Oh, it's just that... it's the first time we're together after school hours." She offhandedly remarked as her eyes studied the place. "It's almost like we're on a date." Yuu innocently blurted. _'Oh my goodness, I just_ _ **had**_ _to say that aloud.'_ She hoped he didn't realize the implication in her statement and the fact that she could feel a strong blush creeping in. He didn't; she was spared this time.

Their orders arrived, much to her relief. She had strawberry and mango crepe with ice cream and chocolate syrup, and her mentor had a pretty basic one: crepe with bananas and chocolate spread, sprinkled with confectioner's sugar. "Let's eat," she heard him say.

' _Hori-sensei's awfully quiet,'_ Yuu noted as she watched him eat in silence. _'But he really is quiet most of the time.'_

"Is there something wrong, Kashima?"

This alarmed her somehow. Had she been staring at him for so long that he noticed?

"Why?" was what she said instead of assuring him that there was nothing wrong like he assumed.

"You're staring." He bluntly stated.

She let out an awkward chuckle. "Am I? I'm sorry, Hori-sensei." _'Well this is awkward.'_ She cleared her throat. "Anyway, Hori-sensei, I realized that I don't know a lot about you—and I don't mean it in a creepy way, just to be clear. Yuzuki and Chiyo-chan spilled a lot of dirt about me the first time they met you," Yuu shuddered at the memory, "so I thought, you know, just to be fair... why don't we talk about you this time?"

Masayuki flashed a stern look her way before smirking smugly. "What makes you think I'd actually tell you embarrassing stories about me?"

She rolled her eyes. "Oh come on, sensei. You don't even have to tell me those things if you don't want to. We can start with the basics: where did you graduate? What's your favourite colour? What's your ideal type—I don't know. We can talk about that, right?"

She watched him pick his food. "Oh, those things you mean. Okay, I graduated from Shoyo University, and my favourite colour is blue, if you can't tell."

Yuu smiled. "Have you always loved teaching, sensei?"

At this, Masayuki straightened his back, and stared at the window with a pensive expression on his face for a good minute before turning his attention back to her and smiling. "I didn't think so, but eventually I found it to be fun. Fun fact: I didn't graduate with a degree in Education."

Her eyes widened in curiosity. "You didn't? Then why be a teacher?"

Masayuki's eyes looked solemn all of a sudden which kind of contrasted the small smile still plastered on his lips. "I asked myself that once when I gave my application to the school. I could be working for a bank right now, or in some research facility being a Mathematics graduate, but... I don't really know. I guess they didn't appeal to me so much. 'Kaa-san just told me about an opening for high school teachers in one of the schools around this area one time she went home, so I gave it a shot, and I got in," he paused to eat a piece of his dessert before continuing. "The first few months were a bit of a struggle because I had to get used to systems that I wasn't really prepared for, you know, classroom management, lesson plans, teaching methods and the like, but people were pretty nice. And I found work something to look forward to in the morning."

"That's odd. I'm pretty sure not a lot of people actually look forward to going to work and doing the same things for days or months or years." She mumbled in between chewing her food. "But that's what makes you great, Hori-sensei!" Yuu casually dropped, flashing him an award-winning grin, but he only responded with a modest chuckle, as if her compliment made him shy or something.

"Well, what made you decide to take up Math Ed in college, Kashima?" he asked. He was already done with his crepe, from what she could tell since he was already tracing weird patterns from the leftover chocolate.

Yuu jutted out her lower lip as she tried to think of how to tell her silly story. "Hmm, in high school, I had a Math teacher who was pretty popular with all the students. The boys looked up to him as an older brother, and the girls all squealed and fantasized about him when he's not around. I actually didn't understand his appeal until we had a one-on-one session in Law of Sines one sunny afternoon. He was amazing." Her eyes glimmered at the memory. "Since then, he's inspired me to want to be just like him."

Masayuki looked at her with "are you serious" expression written all over his face. "You went into Math Ed because of a crush?"

She could feel her face starting to burn. "Wouldn't you do silly things for a crush?"

"Depends on how silly it is, maybe. I can't believe there's not much depth to your reason! Are you even real, Kashima?"

Yuu would normally scowl at this kind of reaction but hearing the hearty laugh of her mentor strangely lifted up her mood, if it were still possible. If she could make him laugh, then she guessed she'd be fine.

"So what happened to your high school crush then?" Masayuki returned to the topic once more. This time, though, the smile he had on wasn't mocking.

"He's married now, and with three kids." She frowned. "I've to admit that I actually was sad when a classmate told me about the news. I mean, sure it wasn't like I'd have a chance with him because he was thirty when I was seventeen, but still!" Yuu almost sounded like she was whining. "But eventually, I did realize that I actually wanted to be a teacher, so I guess I'm where I'm supposed to be. Besides, I like being around people, I'm good at getting attention, and I rarely ever get shy!"

"Then why not choose to be an actress or a model instead?" Her mentor dropped nonchalantly. "You've got the charms, the looks, and the air of one. I'm pretty sure you'd do well as that, too."

' _Was that a compliment?'_ Yuu tried not to smile widely at what Masayuki just told her. "Oh come on, Hori-sensei! Aren't you glad that I'm your teaching assistant instead?" She chortled, waving her hand dismissively.

"Actresses, models, and teachers _may_ have similarities minus being televised, but in case you haven't realized, actresses and models cannot really be surrounded by people the way teachers can. You know how some managers would always shove and pave a way for their talents in public events? And have you ever seen press conferences for artists and models? They're in front of a lot of people, but the people could never really get close to them. It's like a tease of some sort," she paused as she drank a bit of water from her glass. "Whereas teachers can just go out of their homes and students could just flock around them without being pushed away by managers and kept safe inside cars. Human interaction has always been my thing, Hori-sensei."

By the time she was done, Masayuki was staring at her with unbridled fascination. And once again, Yuu could feel stuffiness thick in the air around them. _'Please stop looking at me like that, Hori-sensei. I might faint.'_ Her eyes darted everywhere but his.

"That's a really interesting thought," was all that he said.

They got out of the cafe a few minutes after the sun has set. True to his word, Masayuki paid for their meal, or Yuu's idea of a meal.

"I'll walk you home." Masayuki offered, but she wasn't really in the mood to go home yet. The night was young—too young, in her opinion. She grabbed his hand instead, like it was normal to do so.

"It's still a little early, don't you think?" A mischievous smile was carved on her lips. "Let's not go home yet!"

Masayuki was mortified. "Whaaaa—"

But before he could even complain or tell her to go home, she already tugged his hand as she ran across the street to the shopping establishments, effectively trapping him under her spell. At this point, it seemed like the young man found struggling to be futile.

They went inside a quaint shop selling a lot of cutesy stuff that, Masayuki guessed, was the kind of stuff that Yuu actually found interesting. Sure, she didn't look like the girly type and the way she was didn't scream like she was into frilly and pink things, but Yuu was still a girl, and girls, however varied, seemed to have similar interests that was contained in the middle of the Venn diagram that was "Ladies Choices." That he could figure out.

"Hori-sensei, come here!" She called out. "I found something for us!"

The young man sauntered to where she was. "What is it?"

Yuu held a charm up in his face. "I'll keep the girl charm, and you'll keep the boy. That way, we're matching!" It was one of those paired phone charms for friends or lovers that could stand alone.

"You do realize the possible implications of _that_ , right?"

She only looked at him, confused at what he was trying to say. Masayuki only sighed in defeat. "Never mind. Give it to me; I'll pay for it."

But Yuu clutched the phone charms to her chest. "You already bought me crepes earlier. It's my turn to buy you something in return, Hori-sensei." She even raised it in the air when her mentor tried to snatch it away from her. "You don't have to spoil me, sensei. Think of it as my gift!" She suggested, her arm still extended in case Masayuki would pull out some ninja moves on her.

The young man frowned and relented in the end. On their way out of the store, Yuu was already attaching his phone charm on his phone to make sure that he would actually use her gift. "So that you can always think of me every time it rings or you see it," she giggled. Yuu didn't care so much anymore if she was as red as a tomato because right now, they have matching phone charms, and that was all that mattered that evening.

Masayuki still brought her home. They discussed next week's schedule on the way, but Yuu wasn't really paying that much attention because she wanted to relish this rare moment with her beloved Hori-sensei. He seemed to have grown a bit comfortable in her company, too; he didn't stiffen when she wrapped her arm around his like she did when they left school, and he didn't seem to tense when she would occasionally lean closer to him. This somehow made her feel strangely happy for some reason.

Yuu Kashima knew in her heart of hearts that she was doomed.

He waited for her to unlock the keys to their gate like the gentleman that he was ( _'Plus points for you, Hori-sensei.'_ ). The lock clicked, and the gate opened, and just as Masayuki was about to bid goodbye and go his way, Yuu once again grabbed his hand.

"Actually, Hori-sensei, why don't you join us for dinner tonight? My parents have always wanted to meet you anyway since I told them about you a few nights ago. Don't worry; I only sang praises about you, okay?" She still didn't let his hand go in case he decided to make a run for it.

"But isn't this short notice? I don't think your parents would want any surprises for dinner." He was trying to get his hand free from hers, but her grip was tight.

"They wouldn't mind! They like guests!" She assured him, opening the gate wider and tugging him. "You're here already anyway, so might as well meet my parents!"

The young man was going to protest, but the door opened, revealing Yuu's mom. "Oh, Yuu! You're here already? I thought you might be out a little longer." The older woman said as she stepped down the stairs leading to their house. "Oh, and who is this young man?"

Yuu took it as a cue to pull Masayuki harder and in to her mother's view. "Kaa-san! This is Hori-sensei, in the flesh! He took me out for crepes earlier, now I'm inviting him over for dinner!"

Mrs. Kashima's face lit up the same way her daughter's face did when she realized who her daughter was with. She went closer to him and enveloped him in a hug. "It's so nice to finally meet you. Thank you for taking care of our daughter!"

"N-Nice to meet you, too, Kashima-san." He managed to say despite the feeling of being crushed by his mentee's mom of all people.

"Oh, don't be a shy one, now, Hori-sensei! You can just call me, oba-san!" She let out a chuckle. "Go inside now, you two, dinner's about to start."

"Yay!" Yuu marched up the stoop with Masayuki following closely behind just because his hand was still a prisoner of Yuu's.

Inside the dining room, Yuu's dad and sister were arranging the plates and their food on the table. "'Tou-san, Yuuki!" she called them out, still dragging her still rattled mentor to the table. "Hori-sensei's joining us for dinner!" She announced, sitting him on one of the chairs.

Her dad looked up from setting the plates and smiled. "Oh, so you're the Masayuki Hori that our Yuu keeps on talking about!" Mr. Kashima moved to where he was and shook his hand.

Masayuki managed to stand up while maintaining the handshake. "It's nice to meet you, Kashima-san."

"Well, he truly is cute like you said," Yuuki commented as she looked over from her position. "Nice to meet you, Hori-sensei. I'm Yuuki, the younger sister. You should hear how much she keeps on talking about you; it's insane."

Yuu glared at her sister, but Yuuki only smiled at her coyly.

Mrs. Kashima entered the dining room. "Okay, since everyone's here, and we even have Hori-sensei over, why don't we all have dinner now?" The whole family missed the amused look at Masayuki's face as he watched them sang their yay's.

Yuu glanced every now and then at her mentor as dinner commenced in the Kashima household. Right now, he was avidly listening to her mom talking about the details of dinner. Yuu could see her sister shooting her smug grins every time their eyes would meet, which she coolly ignored. She decided she'd just deal with her when this was over.

"How long have you been working?" Her father asked as he refilled Masayuki's plate with more rice.

"Oh, I just started a month before April. I'm pretty new to teaching since I only graduated this year."

"Has Yuu been bothering you?" It was her mother this time.

Masayuki shook his head. "She's actually pretty helpful." Yuu was definitely _not happy_ when she heard him say that.

Yuuki propped her arm on the table and rested her chin on her hand. "What are your hobbies?"

If Masayuki felt intruded by the barrage of queries directed at him, Yuu didn't notice any hint of tensing or even hesitation on his end as he gracefully replied and entertained all that was asked of him, yes, even Yuuki's "you're really so cuuute!" remark.

As Yuu listened to the exchange between her mentor and her family members, her elation was suddenly ruined when a realization hit her like being washed with ice water. _'Oh dear Lord, what are we doing? What am I doing? This almost feels like Hori-sensei... we... that we are... Crap.'_

For the second time that day, Yuu Kashima knew she was doomed.

She tried to pass it off coolly, eventually joining the conversation and hoping she wouldn't falter in her speech and demeanour. It seemed to have gone well for her since they were all laughing and happy and even exchanging ideas. It was safe to say that the impromptu meet-the-family-over-dinner was a success, thanks to everyone's exuberance and Masayuki's grace. When it was time for him to go, Yuu escorted him to the gate, still feeling warm and fuzzy all over as she tried her best not to make ghost touches with her mentor as they walked side by side. Before Masayuki left, he turned to face Yuu, wearing the biggest smile she had ever seen him don in the days that she had been with him.

"You're family's pretty fun. Thanks for having me over, no matter how rushed."

"I'm glad you enjoyed dinner with us!" She hoped that her nerves wouldn't be traced in her tone. "Let's do this again some time!" _'Oh, crap, Yuu. It's like you're asking him out on a date or something!'_

But whether her beloved Hori-sensei picked up on the possible meaning of her suggestion or not was beyond her. He only nodded and agreed. "I guess we can."

' _So he's actually fine with that? I don't mind it either.'_

"Thanks for the treat earlier, Hori-sensei." It was probably out of habit that Yuu reached out and hugged her mentor, something she normally did whenever she bid her friends goodbye after a day in their house. And when she realized that the only thing he did was to tense a bit before relaxing in her hold, Yuu was grateful that he didn't fling her to next year. Masayuki even patted her back.

Despite her seemingly infinite source of energy, Yuu didn't really have trouble sleeping, save for tonight. In the safety of her covers, the young lady didn't feel the need to hide her blush that probably spread until her neck as she recounted the activities earlier: crepes with Masayuki, shopping for phone charms with Masayuki, and family dinner with Masayuki. Yuu rolled endlessly on her bed, as she muffled her high-pitched screaming with one of her pillows.

She was truly, madly, and deeply doomed.


	6. Sick Day

I'm back from vacation and with another chapter, too! :D Initially, I was going to upload as soon as I got home, but something happened to my laptop so the update's a little delayed than planned. I actually plan to update this on a weekly basis. Maybe on a Thursday. Just to develop a habit in me haha!

 **xXKittyEarsXx:** Thank you for the kind words! :D I'm glad you like the banter between the Kashima sisters; I kinda imagine them to be lie that to each other every single time.

 **kally-kal:** I'm glad that you aren't disappointed with the previous chapter. :D Hope this chapter will also keep up to your standards!

 **lovehighlighter:** Wow! It makes me happy that you liked all the chapters so far; I hope you find this to your liking, too. I actually want more KashiMiko interactions both in the mangaverse and in fanfiction considering they're supposed to be best friends. They're also my rareship, too, so... hahahahaha. Anyway, I'm totally fine with people pointing out some errors in my work because it helps me learn how to write better and to use the language better, so please do tell if you see any inconsistency. After all, constructive criticism is good criticism. :)

 **addict:** Thank you for finding this story cute! Here's another chapter for you.

Speaking (or writing haha) from experience, the least that you want to happen to you as a teacher is to get sick on a school day. :|

* * *

 **Chapter Six: Sick Day**

"Tell me this isn't happening."

Oh but it was. Masayuki was sick with fever.

He woke up wheezing and with a heavy head a few minutes before his alarm set off. When the coughing stopped, he began to notice that his nose was stuffy and that his eyes were heavy and warm all over. He reached for his forehead until realizing that it might be a futile attempt to tell if he was in flames because his hand probably had the same temperature as his whole body. He struggled to get to his bathroom to check how he looked like, and oh my freaking goodness, he looked utterly terrible. His hair was a mess, his eyes were red and droopy, his nose was also sporting the same shade of red as his eyes, and there was a hint of drool on the side of his mouth. The last time Masayuki felt this sick was on his final year of college, when he pulled an all-nighter for his Calculus finals.

He climbed back to his bed listlessly, taking with him his phone (he never bothered removing the cute phone charm from Yuu) as he lay down once more. He went through his contacts list and stopped when he saw Yuu's number.

"Good morning, Hori-sensei." A groggy, throaty voice came from the other line. "Miss me already?"

Masayuki learned that even in the early hours of morning, Yuu's quirks could not be stopped. If he was in his peak condition, he would've clicked the decline button, but he wasn't, and this was an emergency. "Morning, Kashima. I have a favour to ask."

"What favour?" Her voice seemed to have lightened up a bit and he heard some shifting of sheets on the other end. "What's going on, sensei?"

"I'm really sick. I don't know if it's the flu, but everything feels heavy right now."

"Do you want me to come over so that I can take care of you?" He could hear the smile in her raspy tone.

"No, idiot!" he muttered, rubbing his nose. "I'm asking you to take over all my classes today because I won't make it to school in this condition."

There was a short pause in Yuu's line. "...But sensei, I don't think I can do that."

"What do you mean you can't do that? I've watched you conduct one of my classes and you seemed fine." He groaned. "Where's that uncertainty coming from?"

"You were there the whole time, Hori-sensei. What if I screw things up tremendously in class and you're not there to take over?" She nervously replied.

The young man sighed. "Kashima, like I said, I've seen how you are in class. You can do it." Only a pregnant pause followed. With the sternest voice he could muster in his condition, Masayuki called out. "Kashima."

He heard some shuffling on the other end and a sigh. "Fine," she relented. "Take care of yourself, Hori-sensei. See you at school tomorrow." And the line was dead.

Masayuki stared at his phone screen for a while before deciding to follow up with a short message. _"Thank you,"_ he began to type, _"and I'm sorry for troubling you this early. I'll treat you to something nice when I'm back on my feet."_

His phone alerted him of her mentee's reply. _"Really? Yaaaaaaaaay! 3"_ He snickered in amusement, but it was cut short because he was choking on his phlegm.

He was once again back on his bed, struggling to breathe through his nose because it was clogged and had just cleaned his mouth from earlier's event. Masayuki rolled to his side and heaved a sigh. He grabbed one of his pillows to bury his face in so that he could once again go back to sleep, but found that his body was too awake to even try despite its heaviness earlier. With much groaning and protesting from his limbs, Masayuki groggily got up from his bed and made his way downstairs, to the kitchen, to get himself an early breakfast.

The scent of morning coffee coupled with the steam coming from the rice cooker and the _miso_ soup almost made him forget that he was sick. He dragged his feet a little faster to the kitchen and saw his parents preparing for another full day. His father was preparing a feast (like all the time, but having three grown men in one house did mean having to cook extras) while his mom busied herself arranging the food in several lunchboxes for everyone.

"Good morning, otou-san, kaa-san," he greeted them listlessly as he sat on one of the chairs.

His mom casted him a worried look as she stopped what she was doing and approached him. "You look so pale, Ma-chan. Are you sick?" She reached out for her son's forehead and was greeted with warmth. "You're on fire!"

And to really confirm that he was feeling off, Masayuki chose this time to sneeze, but not without covering his nose and mouth to keep something from flying off and contaminating everything in front of him. "Kaa-san," he mumbled, voice muffled by his hands, "I think I need to use the sink."

His mom moved out of the way as he went over to the sink to clean his nose and face, too. "This shouldn't be happening," he groaned as he wiped his face dry with his shirt.

"You look so harassed." His father noted when he glanced at him as he brought the pans on the table. "You should call in sick."

"I already called my teaching assistant a few minutes ago." He sniffed. "She'll handle all my classes today." Masayuki proceeded to the dining area and sat on his usual seat.

"I guess I'll call in sick, too, so that I can take care of you." His mom offered.

"You don't have to, kaa-san. I can manage." He declined. Masayuki hoped that the smile he wore was assuring enough for her mother.

When everyone had left the Hori household and when Masayuki had called his department head about his absence, the young man went back to his bed, a cold strip stuck on his forehead, in an attempt to get himself to sleep his sickness away. It didn't seem like he would need to be sent to the hospital, and if he would do his best to cover his mouth, throw the tissues in a separate bin, and sanitize everything that he touched, Masayuki doubted that what he had was contagious. _'It's just an ugly case of fever,'_ he told himself as he pulled his covers up to his chin.

The young man woke up to the sound of his phone ringing incessantly. He sleepily reached for his phone from his desk and checked who had the nerve to disrupt his sleep and frowned.

"Hello, Kashima?"

"Sensei! I'm standing in front of your house right now. Please let me in; the rain's about to pour!"

"Huh?" he managed to utter in confusion. The urgency in Yuu's tone left him disturbed. With all the energy from his tired body, Masayuki lifted himself up and dragged himself as fast as he could to do just what his assistant requested.

When they were already inside the house and safe from the deluge (that poured magically right after Masayuki closed the door), that was when the young man's brain began to function. "How did you even manage to find where I live? And why didn't you bring an umbrella with you if you knew it was going to rain?"

Yuu only grinned at him. For some reason, he really wanted to wipe that cheeky grin off her face, but he was too tired to even bother.

"I asked the people from the HR Department if they have your records, and obviously they do, so I took note of it, searched for a map leading here, and found it!" She told him as she removed her shoes. "I just wanted to see if you're okay now."

"You could've done so tomorrow when I arrive for work." He muttered, but he still let her inside the living room anyway. "Anyway, since you're here already, I'm feeling a bit better than earlier. If this fever doesn't persist at night, I might show up tomorrow." Masayuki arranged the throw pillows on their couch before motioning for her to take a seat. "Make yourself at home."

Yuu only stared at him, an amused expression painted on her pretty face.

"What?" His attempt on sounding threatening was a flop for his nose decided it was a good time to itch. He tried to ignore it.

The small smile she had on evolved to a grin. "Your bangs are down, Hori-sensei."

"Say anything more and your face will personally meet one of the throw pillows."

Masayuki turned, scowling. He went to the kitchen to grab them something to drink: a glass of brewed iced tea for his guest and a warm cup of lemon ginger tea for himself. He sauntered to the living room, careful not to spill any of the drinks with him and handed Yuu her glass. "Here," he said, and sat down on the chair slightly adjacent to the couch.

"Thank you for the drinks, sensei!" she acknowledged after drinking almost half of the contents down. "You were right when you said you lived near the desserts place. That makes it easier for me to remember your street, and oh," she grabbed her bag from the floor and rummaged for something inside it. "I bought you fruits on the way here. Kaa-san said fruits make everything better."

Yuu stretched out her hand, revealing a small package of mixed fruits contained inside a plastic box. "Here you go, Hori-sensei." Masayuki accepted the package with a weak 'thank you.'

"School was okay today," Yuu began to babble. "The students were pretty cooperative, but they're all worried about you when I told them that you're sick..." And then she narrated the events that took place inside the classroom, how she taught them the Pythagorean Theorem and triangles as indicated in the calendar inside the faculty room, how Makoto-kun and Kirisawa-kun got the lesson on their first try despite being notorious for staying after school just to review their lessons another time. "They were so ecstatic that they performed a celebratory dance during seatwork." Yuu chuckled.

Masayuki contented himself to listening quietly as Yuu continued to recount today's events animatedly. He found the sight to be totally adorable despite it being Yuu. He could get used to this, you know; listening to her talk about her day, talk about her friends, talk about her epiphanies and other stuff, and he would just be there, watching her, a smile on his face, and admiring such a radiant sight. A small smile was playing on his lips as he munched on the fruits she bought for him. She was now telling him about the shenanigans that ensued while she prepared everything for class discussions.

"But after all the craziness that was classroom preps, everything went swimmingly by the middle of the day. All the teachers in the department helped me out, too, so the stress somehow died." Yuu finished her story as well as her iced tea. "I miss your presence very much, Hori-sensei."

The young man was taken aback by the nonchalance in Yuu's declaration that he almost swallowed the cube of apple that he just popped in his mouth. The awkward air that was supposed to come was prevented when the front door of the Hori household opened, allowing the heavy sound of the rain to enter their ears and the sound of his brother's voice.

"The rain is crazy!" The youngest of the Hori family commented as he replaced his umbrella on one of the hooks and shook of his coat. "Hey, this pair of shoes aren't—" He looked up to see his brother and Yuu lounging in the living room.

"Well, you're home early." Masayuki greeted.

He could see his younger brother's eyes widen as said brother approached his mentee and stood an arm away from where Yuu was. All the while Yuu just looked at him in interest.

"Aren't you, _the_ Yuu Kashima, Ryonan University's heartthrob?" He broke into a grin before bowing. "I'm Mitsue Hori, a college sophomore, and I go to the same school as you!" Mitsue turned to his brother, beaming. "You didn't tell me you're friends with Yuu Kashima!"

Masayuki cleared his throat. "She's my teaching assistant. And I remember talking about her one time over dinner, but you went to the bathroom." However his voice fell on deaf ears as his brother and Yuu quickly became acquainted with each other, both unnecessarily jolly. They were schoolmates after all, lots of things to talk about.

"I can't believe I just met the campus heartthrob in person!" Mitsue gushed. Masayuki only snorted. "Machan-onii-chan is so lucky!"

Yuu responded with a light-hearted laugh. "Silly boy, I'm the one who's lucky because I get to be mentored by Masayuki Hori!"

In the next five years, Masayuki Hori would still fervently deny that his heart flipped hearing that.

His younger brother paused, a naughty smirk coming its way on his lips. "Oh," he wiggled his eyebrows when he stole a glance at Masayuki, then looking back at his senior. "Hey, Kashima-senpai, since the rain hasn't let up yet, and I'm about to prepare dinner in time for our parents to arrive, why don't you join us tonight? I'm sure otou-san and okaa-san would want to meet you!"

But before the young lady could accept or decline the invitation, Masayuki was on his feet, pulling her up and grabbing her stuff with his unoccupied hand. "You need to be early for work tomorrow, so you better head home now and rest." The young man led her by the arm to their doorstep and handed her his umbrella. "Go straight home tonight; no late night dinners, not even desserts, just go straight home. Just return the umbrella to me tomorrow."

In the midst of all this preparation to go home, Yuu could only watch him get her ready, confusion and amusement in her face. "Okay, sensei. I guess I'll see you tomorrow."

"Wait, Kashima-senpai!" Mitsue could be heard jogging to the front door. "Can I at least have a photo with you?"

' _Oh, great, Mit-chan seems to have developed a silly crush on Kashima,'_ Masayuki rolled his eyes at his brother's shamelessness. Yuu didn't seem to be bothered by it at all.

"Okay!" she replied as she posed beside Mitsue and smiled.

"Thank you, Kashima-senpai!" His brother grinned like he hit some jackpot. Masayuki swore his brother would float into heaven if it that were even possible.

"Okay, stop horsing around now, goodbye Kashima!" Masayuki hurriedly said as he shoved his brother away and grabbed another umbrella to see her off the gate. "And make sure to text me when you're home already."

To which Yuu replied jokingly with, "Yes, mom!" No need to state what happened next.

Dinner time at the Hori household went like usual; each of them had their turn on sharing how their day went, how their colleagues/classmates behaved, if there were anything significant that happened today, and how Mit-chan's cooking was always on point. Masayuki was feeling happier tonight because his fever had subsided and he could taste their food well now. What was eating for if you couldn't even taste the flavours as you chew?

"Ma-chan, how are you feeling now?" His mom inquired, worry etched on her features.

"I think my fever's gone. I don't feel heavy anymore." He replied in between chewing his food slowly, relishing the savoury taste of the beef. "I slept a lot and drank a lot of liquids."

"And young love helped him recover, too—ouch!" Mitsue reached for his shin under the dining table where Masayuki kicked him.

The eyes of Mr. and Mrs. Hori widened in curiosity. The couple exchanged knowing glances between each other before returning their focus to their firstborn. "Are you hiding something from us, Ma-chan?" His father taunted, but there was a dash of mischief with the way his voice dropped. And the naughty smirk on his face didn't help.

Masayuki took this time to glare at his brother and hiss. Mitsue only flashed him an annoying grin and a peace sign. Siblings are wonderful creatures, after all.

"Kashima dropped by to check on me and report what happened in school while I was away." He replied. His eyes didn't leave his brother. "Kashima is _only_ a teaching assistant, just to put things in perspective."

"She bought him fruits!" Mitsue quickly supplied, not helpfully. This time, Masayuki flicked his brother on the forehead. But his grin was still plastered on his annoying face.

"Aw, that's so sweet of her!" Mrs. Hori cooed. "You should give her something tomorrow. How about I also make her lunch? That would be good." She looked at her husband who was nodding his head in approval.

The young man groaned. "You don't have to, kaa-san."

"Oh, Ma-chan! It'll be a thank you gift for caring about you!" She said, dismissing his son's disagreement. "Besides, we always cook big servings anyway, so it wouldn't really be much trouble."

"Somebody seems to be a fan of our Ma-chan!" His dad ridiculously yelled over the table. "Introduce her to us once, okay!"

' _Why am I even subject to this teasing?!'_ He screamed in his head.

"Yeah, otou-san! You should've heard how happy she was to be under Machan-onii-chan's care! She told me so! She was shining when she said so!" Mitsue feigned a tear coming from his right eye as he wiped the inexistent tear dry. "Machan-onii-chan is so lucky to have Yuu Kashima worrying for him because he's sick."

Masayuki massaged his temples. "Like I said, she's _only_ a teaching assistant. Of course she'd be worried about me; we work together."

Mitsue rolled his eyes. "Yeah, but if she's _only_ a teaching assistant like you claim her to be, don't you realize that she could've just waited for the next day to tell you how things went or she could've just sent you an email or a text about today, right?"

"Burn," his father muttered. Masayuki's and Mitsue's heads snapped to their father. "Otou-san, please!" The brothers chorused.

Needless to say, dinner ended with more Masayuki teasing ( _'Kashima would have a field day if she was here,'_ he thought), him enduring the silly questions from his parents, Mitsue egging his parents on, and him feigning a grand headache coming. He was allowed an early exit from dinner, much to his delight because the teasing was getting too much for him. It was also difficult to will himself not to let his cheeks heat up to the point of rewarding them a sight of a flustered Masayuki. He sighed exasperatedly as he climbed upstairs to his room, eager to shut himself off from the rest of the world.

He looked over his phone that sat almost on the edge of his desk and saw that Yuu had sent him a message not-so-long ago. _"I'm home now, Hori-sensei."_ It read, _"Thanks for lending me an umbrella. Otou-san, okaa-san, and Yuuki are all wishing you'd get well. See you tomorrow! :D"_

The young man didn't even try stopping the corners of his lips from tugging upwards after reading. For all her close-to-ridiculous suggestions to make things easier for him when it came to his lack of height, Yuu would follow what he said she should do, like informing him that she was home already. This made her even more likable and tolerable, he quickly supplied in his head. He opened their conversation log and began to reply.

" _Thanks for dropping by and buying fruits for me. I'm feeling better now. Glad to hear you made it home safely. Don't bring lunch tomorrow because kaa-san will make one for you."_

His phone vibrated shortly with Yuu's reply. _"Really? Awwww, thank you, Hori-sensei's okaa-san! Sensei, I'm sorry to trouble you with this, but I've been thinking about this since I walked out your house. Hori-sensei, am I only a teaching assistant to you? Am I not part of your list of friends? Do you dislike me as a friend? :("_

Somehow, the sad face at the end of Yuu's text message alarmed him more than it should. An image of Yuu frowning, with her lower lip jutted out cutely ( _'Goodness gracious, Masayuki, why is she always cute in your mental images?')_ flashed in his head and he found that he didn't like that at all. Normally he would just leave messages like this unanswered, but for some reason, Masayuki didn't think he'd be able to live with himself if he did just that, and to her of all people. So in spite of his nature, he composed his answer.

" _Kashima, you're undoubtedly very helpful and handy as a teaching assistant. We're both bound professionally at the moment, so I guess that's how our relationship works right now. I guess it depends on how you view friendship, but just to assure you, I don't dislike you as a friend, okay?"_ Masayuki had to swallow his coolness just this moment, so let him be. _"You can be included in my list of friends, and that's not because I feel bad for you. You're actually not half bad, Kashima."_

Ten seconds later, his phone alerted him of his assistant's reply. _"That's a relief! I thought you don't like me because sometimes I tease you about things you don't like, like your height. But don't worry, Hori-sensei. I'll try my best to behave. Try. Anyway, I shouldn't be keeping you up any longer. Good night, Hori-sensei! 3"_

' _Again with the hearts,'_ he rolled his eyes, but allowed himself to smile anyway. _"Good night, Kashima."_


	7. Birthday Surprise

Delayed update once more because my laptop crashed just when I needed it the most (I'm in my thesis year omg). I borrowed my sister's for a while so while she doesn't need to use it yet, I'll make good use of it ohohohoho. Anyway, since chapters 8-10 had already been written, I might upload a little faster this time, in case I go on another temporary hiatus because of my lack of laptop. T.T

 **xXKittyEarsXx:** Wow! I didn't think the things I write could elicit such a reaction because fluff isn't something I'm usually used to writing, but hey, I'm happy that you're able to feel that way reading this. :D I hope this chapter also evokes the same reactions from you. Once again, thank you for reading! :D

 **Fake Weeb Trash:** Thank you because this is one of your favourite HoriKashi fics. :D Hahaha! Glad you like my writing style.

The fluffy feelings continue as the whole MST Department prepares something for Hori's special day! :D This is honestly my favourite chapter so far so I hope you guys like it, too. :D

* * *

 **Chapter Seven: Birthday Surprise**

She had only been part of the department for two weeks, but it was no surprise how Yuu easily fell into routine with the rest of the faculty. She was even included in faculty meetings and those spur-of-the-moment dinner parties as if she had been part of the team since the beginning of the school year.

"Kashima-san!" one of the teachers called out, "wanna join us plan for Hori-chan's birthday?"

"Eh?" the young lady's eyes lit up. "When is his birthday?" she asked as she left her corner in the faculty room to join the rest of the teachers around the common table. "What do you have in mind?"

The group managed to create a skeleton of what was going to happen on Masayuki's surprise birthday dinner. It would take place at Karasuma-sensei's place, in their garden where the whole team would setup sans Hiroaki because he would be in charge of distracting Masayuki the whole time. Yuu volunteered to help in preparing the food alongside Karasuma-sensei. Since it was common knowledge in the department that the young man didn't fancy sweet tasting things that much, Uehara and Ichijou were tasked to buy cheesecake instead, and some more food for dessert. There would be karaoke (Yuu cringed at that), some alcohol, and dancing (at least she was good at that)!

"Hori-chan is quick to sense if something's up, so be careful not to give anything away!" Hiroaki-sensei warned them before their meeting ended.

Yuu raised her hand. "Wait, so when is this happening?"

"This Saturday, Kashima-san." Karasuma-sensei supplied as she went back to her desk to continue checking more papers.

In order to evade Masayuki's radar, the teachers would only talk about the plan whenever he went to the pantry or the restroom or to the library to get some research done. They also created their own group in LINE (at least those who have LINE accounts) for more incognito updating. It was truly amusing to watch the whole Math, Science, and Technology Department fussing about this birthday dinner, but they had always been like this with the others. The interesting thing about this was even if it seemed like part of their culture as a department, people still get surprised every time. But that was an entirely different story.

The LINE icon at the corner of Yuu's laptop screen alerted her with a message from Hiroaki.

" _Here's a recipe for pork cutlet ramen,"_ it read, followed by a link to a website.

" _Thank you!"_ she typed and sent.

Yuu clicked the link and began writing down the ingredients on a sheet of loose paper for reference when she felt a presence loom behind her.

"Pork cutlet ramen?" Masayuki read over her shoulder as she browsed the site.

' _Ugh, he's here.'_ Yuu turned to face her mentor and wore the best grin she could manage. "Oh hi, Hori-sensei! It's my parents' wedding anniversary tomorrow so I'm thinking of surprising them with home-cooked dinner." The young lady gave herself a self high-five for the nonchalant delivery. "You see, they met in a ramen store, ordered the same bowl of pork cutlet ramen, and then... you get it."

Masayuki smiled slightly. "That's a pretty unusual, but cute love story. Pork cutlet ramen is my favourite food."

' _Which is why I'm reading about it, sensei, hahaha, but of course you don't know about that,'_ Yuu added mentally. "Really, sensei? I'll cook you a bowl some time, then." But Masayuki only snorted in response.

A small 'ding!' caught Yuu's ears. This time, she checked her phone. _"Nice save."_ Hiroaki said.

" _It's really my parents' wedding anniversary tomorrow, but I'm not going to cook for them. We're having sukiyaki instead! Luckily I remembered about that, haha!"_ She replied.

Contrary to claims that his senses were pretty sensitive, the preparation went unnoticed by Masayuki. During lunch breaks, Yuu would stealthily ask Masayuki's students to write little notes about the things they love about their precious Math teacher. She remembered someone from the department telling her that out of all the teachers in their team, he seemed to be the most invested with the teens, even accommodating them regardless of how busy he might be after a long day of teaching. The young lady would like to believe that she knew what he truly wanted, and thought that perhaps the little notes could make his celebration brighter.

Yuu hummed as she secretly crossed out in her tiny calendar the remaining days before Masayuki's birthday celebration. She arranged the notes she'd gathered that day, placed it inside a brown envelope, and kept it safe from the eyes of her mentor. _'I hope he loves this!'_

Just then, Masayuki arrived from his short meeting with Mitsui-sensei.

"Do you have any plans on the weekend?" He asked her as soon as he was back on his desk. "I suddenly remembered I haven't treated you for taking over my classes when I was absent."

Yuu straightened up in her seat. "Mikoshiba and I have already scheduled something because it's his day-off. I'm sorry, Hori-sensei."

The young man only shrugged his shoulders. "I guess I'll just treat you some other time."

"Oh! But I'm free this weekend, Hori-chan!" Hiroaki butted in, walking towards them and slinging an arm around his shoulders when he was beside him. "Aren't you going to ask me out? It's been three months since we last ate out!"

"Don't ever bring that up again, Hiro." Masayuki warned as he narrowed his eyes at his colleague.

Said colleague only rolled his eyes and turned to Yuu. "Hori-chan and I used to eat out after work since we frequently stay overtime. The last time we ever did that, I got him to drink some sake to the point of puking! Man, was I surprised that he doesn't drink at all! I had to carry him back to his house piggy back style because he passed out immediately after vomiting." Hiroaki laughed heartily as he slapped Masayuki's back. Masayuki wasn't amused, of course. Yuu chuckled at the story.

"That's okay, Hori-sensei! I'm pretty bad with alcohol, too!" she offered, hoping to console him.

"Which is why I don't and _won't_ ever drink again." Masayuki muttered grumpily, a stark contrast to the pink tint on his cheeks. "If you ever do something like that to me this weekend, I'll pound you flat on the ground, Hiro."

Hiroaki dismissed his threat with a wave of his hand. "Yeah, yeah, you said the same thing to me three months ago. Anyway, I'll see you during the weekend, okay?" He patted Masayuki's shoulder and gave him a thumbs up.

Shortly after the exchange, Yuu received a message. _"Tell Karasuma-sensei that Hori-chan has been officially invited in his birthday dinner."_

Saturday came without much trouble. Yuu picked up her gifts before heading to Karasuma-sensei's house. She pushed the gate open when she saw that it was ajar and found the teachers assigned for the setup already there with their materials. The garden was a busy place with all the coloured papers, pair of scissors, strings, and tapes scattered on the grass. Two teachers were setting up the poles where they would hang the "Happy Birthday, Hori-chan" sign made of coloured paper. She smiled when she saw the cartoonish drawing she did included in the birthday sign. The others busied themselves with preparing the tables and utensils that the team would be using.

"Hello everyone!" She greeted cheerily. There was a chorus of hello's and hi's from the setup team in reply.

"You're just in time, Kashima-san!" Karasuma-sensei said as she held both the young lady's hands to lead her inside. "Let's go to the kitchen, the ingredients are ready!"

Yuu allowed herself to be pulled to the kitchen, all the while letting her eyes roam the place. She had heard that Karasuma-sensei had four kids, now all married, which explained the size of her house. The ceilings were high, and the second floor could be seen from the loft style balcony above the living room. No wonder everyone decided to hold the birthday surprise here; the place was huge!

When they were in the kitchen, Yuu retrieved the copy of the recipe that she printed before leaving her house and handed it to Karasuma-sensei. When the senior teacher had taped the recipe on the counter near the stove, they began their work. Karasuma-sensei was mostly doing the approximations of the ingredients based on the ratio of servings for tonight's party while Yuu followed whatever she was told to do, which were mainly cutting and chopping ingredients for the broth and retrieving the frozen ingredients inside the freezer. In the midst of preparing Masayuki's favourite dish, Uehara and Ichijou arrived with the cheesecake and desserts, but left shortly to help out the setup team with the last minute designing.

Yuu and Karasuma-sensei leaned on the counter across the stove as they waited for the broth to boil. All that was needed to do was to place each serving into a bowl.

"It's really nice that you're helping us out even if it's unnecessary," the older woman spoke. "We're really happy to have you here tonight, and in the department even for a short while."

The young lady faced her senior and flashed a smile. "I don't really mind; it's for Hori-sensei, anyway, and I'm really happy to be an intern in your department." The cheeriness in her grin became wistful. "Sometimes I wish I were really part of the school."

Karasuma-sensei chuckled lightly. "You can always apply after you graduate, Kashima-san. You'll never know if someone would leave at the end of the school year."

One of the teachers went inside the kitchen and alerted them. "Hiroaki-san and Hori-chan are almost here!"

Karasuma-sensei lifted herself from leaning and checked the pot. "Just in time," she mumbled. "Kashima-san, could you please pass the bowls so that we can start with the presentation of the dish?"

The young lady obeyed immediately.

They could already hear the other teachers singing (more like yelling) a happy birthday song from the garden. Yuu couldn't help but grin to herself as she tried to imagine the surprised look on Masayuki's face the moment he saw everyone in the garden and the setup that the teachers did. She wouldn't be lying if she pretended that she was fine inside the kitchen, carefully distributing the food equally in bowls when all she wanted to do was to go out and greet him and to (try to) sing a heartfelt happy birthday song to her beloved mentor. She tried to work faster, but still making sure that she wasn't spilling any broth or putting too much noodles in one bowl. The faster they finish, the faster she would be in the garden with the others, with Hori-sensei.

That thought made her heartbeat race for some reason.

Karasuma-sensei and Yuu placed the bowls in trays when all the bowls have been filled with noodles, broth, and of course, pork cutlets. Both ladies carefully sauntered to the garden, each carrying a tray. They were greeted with the sight of the teachers beaming and cheering as they surround the birthday boy himself whose face wore a mix of confusion, surprise, and joy. Who wouldn't be? It was pretty sweet that the whole department remembered him on his birthday. Yuu grinned at the sight of Masayuki. _'He looks really happy!'_ she noted.

"Happy birthday, Hori-chan!" Karasuma-sensei greeted as she rested the tray she was holding on the food table.

Yuu proceeded to do the same before skipping to her beloved mentor to greet him. "Happy birthday, Hori-sensei!"

Masayuki still seemed to be in a daze after what just happened. "You really didn't have to do this, but thank you everyone!" He said as his eyes scanned the place.

Hiroaki playfully slapped Masayuki's back, causing him to stumble a bit. "C'mon, Hori-chan! You've always been the most hardworking in our group; you deserve some break once in a while. Plus you're 23 now!"

"What does my age have to do with this?"

Hiroaki broke into a naughty grin. "BRING OUT THE STRIPPERS!"

Yuu's eyes widened, the other teachers gaped at the announcement, and when Masayuki flashed a mortified look at his friend, Hiroaki frowned. "Just kidding, Hori-chan," he muttered, patting his friend's shoulders. When the air of awkwardness didn't seem to lift up instantly, he cleared his throat and shouted, "Let's eat!"

Everyone cheered and made a beeline for the food table.

Yuu had just finished her bowl of pork cutlet ramen. She licked her lips to savour the last of the taste. The cooking wasn't that bad, if she may say so herself, but the comment that really mattered was her mentor's, for it was his special day today and this was his favourite dish. She looked around for the familiar mop of brown hair and when she saw said mop of hair, Yuu stood up and approached him.

"Hey, sensei!" she whispered in his ear as she sat down on the empty chair beside him. Masayuki paused from finishing his food to look at her, bowl in hand and a bit of soup on his lips. _'He looks like a little kid right now. So cute!'_ she said in her thoughts.

Yuu saw an empty bowl just a few inches away in front of him. She raised an eyebrow. "You must really like pork cutlet ramen so much to have seconds." She commented, pointing on the empty bowl and the bowl he was currently in his hands.

Masayuki only stared at her before proceeding to empty the last of the broth straight from the bowl. He let out a satisfied, 'ah,' then turned his attention to her. "I though you're supposed to be with Mikoshiba?"

The young lady only rolled her eyes. "Of course I had to lie. It won't be a surprise if I told you I'd be busy helping out for your dinner party, right?"

He frowned and nodded his head slowly. "You do have a point there."

She leaned a little closer to him and grinned. "So... did you like it?"

"Like what?"

Yuu pursed her lips to the bowls that her mentor had just emptied. Masayuki, understanding what she was pertaining to, nodded and smiled in satisfaction.

The corners of her lips tugged upward. "I helped cook that!"

"Really?" his face brightened, "Good job with the flavour. Tastes just like how I want it."

Yuu giggled at the compliment. She wasn't only happy—she was _extremely_ happy. However, the ecstasy Yuu was in was only short-lived.

Uehara stood up and grabbed the microphone from the karaoke machine they rented, and tested how it sounded. "Okay everyone, listen up!" she announced, commanding all the attention to her. "We're all aware that Hori-chan is a pretty decent singer—thanks to our company outing," she paused when the crowd cheered, "so why don't we hear him sing one more time!"

The people erupted into cheers as two of the teachers grabbed Masayuki by the shoulders and dragged him to closer to the front. Yuu only watched in amusement as more teachers gathered in front, asking her beloved mentor what he wanted to sing as they searched the wide selection of songs from the folder. When the song had been inputted and Masayuki had begun to sing the first few notes, the male teachers roared while some of his female colleagues squealed or wolf-whistled. And Yuu? Yuu was transfixed at her mentor the whole time. Even when everyone was singing along during the chorus, she was just on her seat, mouth agape and eyes shimmering. _'I can't believe there's this side of him,'_ she thought.

A round of applause ensued when he was done. Yuu's hands probably ached a bit from the zealous clapping, but it wasn't like she would admit that openly. When Masayuki was about to take his seat, Yuu beamed and took it as her cue to start speaking. "You were great, Hori-sensei!" She complimented. She was rewarded with a small smile and a 'thank you.'

Uehara had the microphone again. "Aren't you all glad after hearing our Hori-chan sing? But of course, it wouldn't be fair for him if he was the only one to sing tonight!"

At this point, Yuu was supposed to be distracted, but hearing the word 'sing' instantly alarmed her. _'What? This wasn't part of the plan!'_

"I have here a jar," Uehara held up a tiny mason jar with rolled coloured papers inside for everyone's eyes, "and each of the papers has your name written on it. Of course everyone has to sing at least once!" She remarked, chuckling.

The reaction from the crowd was a cross between cheer and sneer. If it were possible to be paler than she was right now, Yuu was positive she was three shades whiter than her natural skin colour. _'Lord, help me out, okay?'_ she prayed in her thoughts.

Uehara fished one rolled paper inside the jar and unrolled it. "Okay, our next singer is... Kashima-san!"

All eyes were instantly fixed on Yuu. She gulped as a surge of anxiety hit her like a brick inside. The young lady pouted cutely, hoping that her charms would work with them like it did with the many people who have succumbed to it. "But, Uehara-sensei, my throat's feeling kinda itchy tonight. Can I pass?"

"Oh, c'mon, Kashima-san!" the teacher dismissed her plea, "at least do it for Hori-chan!"

Her anxiety rose as she felt beads of sweat collect at the side of her head.

"Yeah! It's his birthday, after all!" Someone seconded.

Masayuki looked at her and met her nervous gaze. "Look, Kashima, you don't really have to do it if you don't wa—" he whispered, but she cut him off by placing her pointing finger on his lips.

"Let's just get this over with, Hori-sensei." She whispered back.

For the first time in many years, Yuu was engulfed by nervousness that rarely visited the likes of her. She quickly walked towards Uehara and grabbed the microphone. Her hands were getting clammier by the minute as she looked for the safest song to sing. _'As if there's even a safe song for me to sing,'_ she thought.

"Everyone, I'm really sorry for what I'm about to do, especially to you, Hori-sensei, for ruining your special day."

Yuu cleared her throat before allowing herself to ride the train of shame that she actually got herself into.

The song finally ended, taking with it the life from the audience as well as her dignity. The only sign of life in the place was the sound of Masayuki's guffaws from the back. It took everyone a while to recover from the shock/second hand embarrassment, something that didn't surprise the young lady. After all, it was no secret to her that she was tone deaf, of all things. This was the second time she actually sang in front of anyone. The first was when Chiyo and Yuzuki managed to convince her to go karaoke with them after their midterms during their sophomore year.

Yuu handed the microphone back to Uehara. The older woman gave her a reassuring pat on the back before she walked back to sit beside Masayuki. By this time, he had recovered enough to stop himself from laughing. Yuu frowned when their eyes met and proceeded to sulk on her empty seat as she lifted her legs to hold them close to her chest.

"Haha, I guess you can't have everything, huh?" Uehara awkwardly segued. "Anyway, let's move on!"

The party went swimmingly after that, but Yuu was still in her corner of shame, eating a bowl of frozen yogurt with tons of sweets decorating the cold sour treat. She felt someone hovering and saw that it was her mentor, smirking.

"You're still upset about earlier?"

She only narrowed her eyes at him then looked away, pouting.

Masayuki sighed. He grabbed the nearest chair and sat across the sulking Yuu. "C'mon Kashima, it wasn't so bad. Your singing, I mean."

But she wasn't having his horsecrap. Yuu scowled at him.

"Okay, I'm lying; it's really terrible, just like what your friend said."

At this, the young lady straightened up. "I thought I told you to forget about that!"

"I said I'll try. Check your phone."

She did fish for her phone and did check their exchange, all the while scowling at him.

"You save your messages?!" Masayuki looked at her in an amused manner.

Yuu stared at him blankly. "And you don't?"

There was a pregnant pause between them as they let a friendly silence envelope them. Yuu managed to finish her bowl of dessert while her mentor contented himself with watching the people entertain themselves.

"Hey, Kashima," he said, turning to look at her, "do you dance?"

She shot him a playful look. "Do you?"

Yuu found both of them dancing to the mellow but funky background music in the middle of the garden with the others. She was actually following his lead despite the noticeable difference in their height. When he managed to twirl her (and she willingly let him) around, Yuu chose this time to engage in a friendly banter.

"So you can lead a dance, huh?" she remarked as her free hand went straight to his shoulder.

Masayuki looked at her suspiciously. "What makes you think I can't?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "Considering I'm tal—"

Her beloved mentor had "accidentally" stepped on her foot a little too hard. He met her gaze, masking what he just did with an innocent smile. Yuu narrowed her eyes, but found that she couldn't stay annoyed at him for a long time.

The party ended shortly after the cakes were brought out for the traditional blowing off candles and birthday wishes. Everyone had a piece and everyone enjoyed the night, most especially Masayuki. Speaking of, he offered to walk the young lady home, an invitation she didn't refuse (and wouldn't refuse for the world). In fact, they have frequently done this that their steps were almost perfectly synchronized with each other.

They were already at Yuu's street when she halted. Masayuki noticed this and turned round.

"Oh, Hori-sensei, I have something for you." She said as she fished for the notes she had been keeping inside her purse. "I tried to be discreet as possible to get everyone to write down one thing they like about you." She narrated as she handed him a small, wire-bound book. The front cover read, _'120 Reasons Why Masayuki Hori is the Best Math Teacher EVER,'_ peppered with coloured felt paper and glitter glue.

She watched as her mentor opened the small book and read the notes she painstakingly arranged the night before she had it bound.

"Some of the notes are really cute; I couldn't help but read some while I arranged it."

Yuu wouldn't trade it for anything when she saw the slow transition of amusement, fondness, and satisfaction cross his features as he continued to read what his students had written for him.

She used to think that people were exaggerating when they said that there were moments that were surely breathtaking until her breath hitched when Masayuki looked up at her with watery eyes and a small smile. Yuu tore her eyes and looked anywhere but his because she couldn't contain it.

"Wait! I haven't given you my real gift yet!"

The young lady retrieved another gift inside her purse. It was wrapped in a simple blue paper with a card on top of it. She handed him the box, grinning. "Open it, Hori-sensei!"

Her mentor did so. A mixture of puzzlement and happiness decorated his face.

"You've been using a really old scientific calculator so I thought you needed a new one."

What Yuu didn't expect was to be enveloped in the arms of her precious mentor and when she felt his hold tightened after a few seconds.

If it were possible for people to melt in the arms of another, Yuu would've been a gunk of goo that instant. She didn't have to look at the mirror to know that she had on the goofiest grin she didn't know she was capable of doing. Yuu wrapped her arms in return, savouring the feeling of being held.

"I thought you said no hugs, sensei?" she teased, allowing herself to tighten her hug at this very rare moment. She even lowered her head so that she could somehow rest her chin on his shoulder.

"Stop ruining this moment, dummy." She heard him mumble as the young man lightly hit her on the head with his fist. The lack of venom in his statement was something that she didn't miss.


	8. Hell Week (Part 1)

It's been three months since the last update. I'm sorry. I hope this chapter's enough to make it up for everyone who reads this. :D

* * *

 **Chapter Eight: Hell Week (Part 1)**

 _It was that time of the month again._

Masayuki rested his head on his hands as he heaved a tired sigh. Of course, Yuu being Yuu, didn't miss that.

"What's wrong, Hori-sensei?"

"It's that time of the month again." He grumbled, words a little muffled by his hands.

Yuu raised an eyebrow in confusion. "What time?"

As if on cue, one of the instructors in the MST Department came barging in the faculty room, a memo on hand, and quickly pins said memo on their bulletin board. "Guess what time it is, ladies and gentlemen!" He announced, mocking evident in his tone. "It's exams writing time... again."

A chorus of grumbles, sighs, and 'no's' filled the room. Exams were hard to answer, but exams were harder to create.

Yuu turned to look at mentor once more, concern plastered on her face. "Aww, Hori-sensei, you need any help with that?"

Masayuki finally looked up to her and smiled slightly. "It's okay, Kashima. This isn't the first time I did this anyway so don't even worry the slightest."

She narrowed her eyes and furrowed her brows. "Are you sure, sensei? You seem like you dread it so much."

He sighed loudly. "I'd be lying if I said I don't mind exam writing one bit, but Kashima, thanks for your concern." Masayuki admitted as he patted her shoulder.

Truth was he had noticed that his mentee had been spending extra hours at work even if she didn't have to. While he appreciated her dedication so much as his dutiful teaching assistant, Masayuki couldn't help but feel guilty about letting her stay so late inside school grounds. One, she wasn't paid at all for this practicum; two, she was a student intern, which meant she still had studies to think about; and three, she was a student, which meant her parents must be worried sick about her staying later in school than expected. Of course it'd be a different case if she were employed just like him. So on the late afternoons that she did stay and volunteered to make the life of the faculty in charge of the Math team easier, he would often feed her dinner and made sure she reached home in one piece. He was just glad that her parents liked him for some reason so they weren't mad at him or her for working late, though he wasn't so sure why Yuu's parents' opinion about him even mattered.

This time, Masayuki was determined not to let her stay late after doing so for the previous days.

Yuu smiled brightly, like she always did, he noted. "Just call me if you need any help or something, okay?"

He nodded noncommittally. "Thanks for the offer."

So here he was now, still inside the MST Department's faculty office, busy writing his exam for this term. Everyone had called it a day after an hour of staying overtime in an attempt to work on their respective exams, but Masayuki being Masayuki, wanted to get this writing over with. After all, he also had the Math team to worry about since the regional competition was only two weeks away. He also had to come up with drills for the team. The young man looked at the makeshift calendar he made and, for the first time in his working life, felt overwhelmed with the red inks written on it, which were his deadlines. He cursed inwardly when he saw that the deadline for exams overlapped the deadlines for the Math drills. Since when did he start forgetting about deadlines and become so lax at work?

(And this was, of course, ridiculous, because out of all the faculty members of their department, he was the most diligent of them all simply because he was Masayuki Hori.)

He looked at the time. Thirty minutes after six in the evening. He had been inside the school two hours and thirty minutes after their timeout because of the Math team training, and this horrible exam. He could also call it a day and continue finishing his exam tomorrow, but there were Math drills to write, too, and the Lord knew how difficult it was to come up with reliable and valid math problems. That he learned the hard way.

If he wanted to be done in two more hours, he had to... _'No, Masayuki; you just told yourself you're not going to keep her beyond her required hours each day.'_

But the red letters and numbers on his calendar were all that he was seeing now. And they seemed like they were taunting him.

' _Well, she did say I_ _ **can**_ _call her if I need any help.'_ He reassured himself as he searched for her name in his contacts.

It didn't take her long to pick up his call. "Yes, Hori-sensei?"

"Kashima, this is really short notice, but I need to know where you are."

"Well, I just got out of the cafe with some of my friends and I'm on my way home, but I'm still really, really far from my place. Why?"

There was a short pause from his end of the line before he spoke. "Looks like I may need your help after all."

In about twenty minutes, Yuu arrived, nearly slamming the door open and panting. "Hori-sensei, I'm here now!" she called out breathily.

Masayuki looked up from his desk, a mix of hope and guilt on his face. "I'm really sorry for keeping you real late tonight." Before he could even continue his apology, Yuu already had her hand in front of him and was smiling.

"It's really no big deal, Hori-sensei! I already called my parents and told them I'll arrive late again. They really don't mind as long as I'm with you." She chuckled as she looked over at his desk. "Anyway, what help do you need?"

The young man looked at his desk and retrieved the first draft of his exam. "Well, I just realized that I also have another deadline for the Math team, and it happened to overlap with the exam's deadline. You remember your Algebra well, right?"

The young lady nodded.

"Okay. I need you to look over my first draft and solve them. Tell me if there are problematic items in each part of the test and mark them. That way I can edit it just in time for submission. And don't forget to record your time, too." He dictated as he handed her the papers.

Yuu did as she was told. She sat on one of the chairs at the common table and began to answer Masayuki's first draft. Forty five minutes passed swiftly with only the sound of pencil scratching on paper and the keyboard filling the room. Yuu stood up from her chair and submitted the finished exam to her mentor. Masayuki looked up from his computer and smiled tiredly.

"How was it?" he asked as he scanned the test.

Yuu shrugged. "It wasn't so hard as I thought." She grinned. "May I know how I fared?"

Masayuki stared at her for a moment. "I guess a little break wouldn't hurt." He mumbled as he grabbed his red pen and proceeded checking his first draft.

"How is checking papers even a break?" Yuu inquired, chuckling. He could see her in his periphery as she dragged the chair from Hiroaki's desk and sat beside him. "Are you really this absorbed with work, sensei?"

The young man didn't stop checking. "It's a lot better than being unproductive, don't you think?"

"But there's a difference between busy and productive." She quipped. "Which do you think are you?"

Masayuki paused from checking to look at Yuu. "Probably both," he concluded. "But I never really given it much thought, honestly. Care to enlighten me, Kashima?"

He watched as Yuu's eyes looked up, insinuating that her mind was churning at the moment. "Well, busy people do a lot of things at the same time, but don't really finish anything. Productive people, on the other hand, do one thing at a time and they accomplish it, no matter how slow." She explained.

Masayuki frowned. "Yeah, I guess I'm both." He reviewed Yuu's results before calculating the total score. "What about you, Kashima. What are you?"

The young lady spun her chair. "I don't know; I don't mean to sound arrogant, but even if I have a lot on my plate, I can finish it well."

He scoffed. "It must be nice being you, Yuu Kashima. Here," he said as he handed the test to her. "Sarcasm aside, you're right about finishing well. You only have one mistake."

Seeing her grin when she saw and reviewed her results was worth his break time.

"But you know, sensei, I don't actually feel as accomplished as most people assume. I mean, grades are just numbers at the end of the day. It only shows you what you got right and wrong, but it doesn't necessarily reflect _everything_ about you. Sometimes I think grades are quite evil."

The young man raised an eyebrow. "You're right, in a way. But numbers, or in this case, grades measure your ability, not exactly your personhood. Kind of like temperature when you're feeling sick. I like to think that concrete representations of abstract things exist to make people grasp what's normally hard to comprehend, like the measure of a person's ability."

Yuu straightened up on her seat. "What are you trying to say, Hori-sensei?"

He swivelled his chair so that his body was facing her. "Imagine two students, A & B. A is pretty average with Math, but B generally finds it difficult, but he can pull through. We can tell their proficiency by using numbers aka grades so we know their proper placement. That's how teachers are able to identify who's superior, average, or struggling. But this is where it gets tricky.

"For those who aren't part of the education system, they think that if their grades don't fall around A+ to A, they're dumb, but in reality, they're not. They just struggle with that topic, nothing more. But grades become an unhealthy obsession which then leads to the belief that they're bad because their grades aren't on par with the brilliant ones."

"But not everyone can be brilliant." Yuu commented.

He nodded in agreement. "Case in point, singing is not your forte, but does that make you bad in Music?"

She shook her head. "I can actually follow the beat and play an instrument; I'm just horribly tone deaf."

"Exactly," Masayuki quickly added. "I" like to think that students will find their niche in Math eventually, and that not every Math wizard has it in the bag. The grades should guide the student and instructor in finding out and understanding where improvement is needed and where the student is actually good at. So overall, grades aren't really a bad thing. That is, if you look at it from another perspective. Students still need to learn a lot about understanding grades. They shouldn't really let those numbers get into their heads too much."

Yuu frowned, letting everything sink. "I think I get what you mean, sensei; I'm just wrapping it in my brain. But it's actually sad that grades play a big role in job applications. Good grades don't equate to good character all the time."

"You're right again, Kashima. There are cases where people who are identified as average fare better at work than those who exhibited remarkable performance in school as presented in their transcript of records. Perhaps because those considered average know what it means to struggle and learn how to adapt so said acquired skill helps them survive employment. But I think the reason why most employers prefer those with good grades because their marks reflect discipline and rigor, something that you need as an employee. In reality, employees are investments, and if they don't see you as one then the chances of being employed is pretty slim."

The young lady's face suddenly looked contemplative. "Gee, I never really thought it would be _that_ complicated."

Masayuki smirked. "Are you scared?"

She frowned. "Not exactly. Just overwhelmed."

He stood up from his seat and patted her head affectionately. "You're a smart lady, Kashima. You'll be able to carry yourself with grace come time for you to work." He smiled at her fondly when she looked up to meet his eyes. Even up to now, he still thought it was the prettiest set of eyes he'd ever seen. "Anyway, I'm getting coffee at the pantry. Do you want to join me?"

The pair walked along the dimly lit corridors in companionable silence. Masayuki savoured this rare moment of quiet with Yuu since they always seemed to be talking around each other. Sure, he liked the sound of her voice, but he also liked the quiet Yuu. The jovial and eager lady apparently had this kind of side, too.

They reached the pantry. Masayuki flicked the switch on, not even waiting for the lights to stop flickering as he continued walking inside.

"Hori-sensei, don't you get scared by yourself when you stay longer at school?" Yuu asked as she followed after him inside.

"No, I got used to it eventually, plus the guard does his rounds every hour or so, so there's really nothing to be scared about." He replied as he masterly whipped out the coffee, sugar, and creamer jars on one of the cabinets. Then he stopped as realization hit him. _'Wait.'_

"Are you scared?" He asked, facing Yuu.

She shook her head. "Hardly. And well, I'm not very fond of horror stories and horror films. They're poor excuses to be scared since it's just make up most of the time. It's actually funny how people get so worked up watching horror flicks or listening to ghost stories." The young lady scoffed. "Do you like horror movies, sensei?"

Masayuki began mixing the sugar and creamer in his mug as he shook his head. "Unless it's the only thing left to watch, that is."

"Hey, sensei! Let's go see a horror movie some time and make fun of people's reactions during the suspenseful parts!"

Masayuki shot her a confused look. "But didn't you say you dislike horror movies?" he smirked. "It sounds juvenile, but I guess that's fine."

While mixing, he managed to catch a glimpse of Yuu's mug on the dishwashing rack by the sink. "Hey, do you want me to make you a cup of coffee?"

The young lady refused. "I might not be able to sleep tonight if I drink one more cup."

Masayuki considered this first before shrugging. "Yeah, considering your energy level, I wouldn't doubt that." He turned his back to the young lady and started pouring the ground coffee in the coffee maker.

He could hear Yuu's footsteps getting closer until she was beside him already. "But won't you have a hard time sleeping tonight if you drink coffee at this hour?"

"If that happens then I guess I'll read more about next week's lesson on geometric equations." He responded nonchalantly.

The young lady's eyes widened like saucers in disbelief. "Are you even serious, Hori-sensei?!"

He chuckled. "Aren't you surprised that I seem to memorize my lessons by heart?"

She gaped. "You're unbelievable!" then she smirked smugly. "Is that why you stopped growing? Lack of sl—ouch!"

Masayuki flicked her forehead playfully. "I get it, Kashima; I'm tiny. My mirror at home never forgets to remind me every single time." He rolled his eyes. "You think I wanted to be addressed as Hori-chan all the time? I just gave up and got used to it."

Yuu giggled. "Hori-chan suits you, though; I can see why."

He was going to deny that watching Yuu studying him quickly made him feel a little weird (weird, but nice) inside until his last breath.

"Can I call you, Hori-chan, too?"

Masayuki wondered why he couldn't find himself to hate Yuu completely despite the many times she picked on him because of his lack of height.

"Say anymore about my height and you'll go home drenched in coffee." He threatened, though the edge it should have was absent.

The young lady clicked her tongue as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Hori-sensei, I know it's tragic having to stop growing, but being short does have its advantages, too. You can duck quickly and hide easily, and you won't have to be the one assigned to reach for high places."

"Whatever, Kashima." He grumbled. Before any of them could say anything more, the coffee maker was done doing its job.

"I still need to finish one more section for the drills, but you can leave now while the night's still young." He told her as they made their way back to the faculty room.

But Yuu dismissed what he just said and smiled. "It's okay, sensei. I'll wait for you. It's not like I have to wake up early because there's no school tomorrow! Just give me something to occupy my time!" She insisted.

Sometimes there really was no stopping Yuu if she set her mind on things. Masayuki didn't know how to feel about that. _'But she's my assistant, after all. But still, I feel a little bit guilty.'_

So he humoured her again this time. Masayuki gave her this week's drill sheets from his classes to check. Yuu instantly went to work at the common table as he walked back to his desk to finish up the drills. Since both of them were absorbed with their respective tasks, none of them said anything for the next hour.

When Masayuki looked up to check the time, he learned that they had stayed until nine thirty at night. This wasn't the latest he had stayed at work, but this was the first time for his assistant. He saved his finished work, shut down his computer, and stretched his arms before checking to see how the young lady was faring with all the drills. Checking papers could be a pain in the neck, too, literally and figuratively speaking. He stood from his desk and approached the common table. He found that Yuu had fallen asleep in the middle of checking the drills. He quickly browsed through the other papers and saw that she had finished checking the papers of one section.

Masayuki found it ridiculous that even if her hair was currently in a state of disarray and even if her mouth was slightly open, the sleeping face of Yuu Kashima was picture perfect. He chose to attribute it to the coffee he just drank. Yes, it must be the coffee doing the thinking, though he didn't know how that could even be possible. He smiled when Yuu's mouth moved as she mumbled something incoherent, which was actually cute because it was her and not anybody else. He smiled fondly as he committed in his memory the serenity on his mentee's face.

' _You're doomed, Masayuki Hori.'_

"Kashima," he gently prodded, shaking her shoulder lightly. "Kashima, wake up."

He kept on repeating the same motions until she felt her stir. She slowly opened her eyes, long brows fluttering, and lifted her head from the table. "I'm sorry, Hori-sensei. I fell asleep when I should be checking the worksheets."

If the sleeping face of Yuu was enough to make him happy for months on end, the recently woken up Yuu was the most endearing sight he had ever laid eyes on.

"Come now, I'll take you home." He calmly said.

After making sure that none of the electronic devices inside the faculty room were left running, the pair exited the building and Masayuki bid the guard good night, dragging along the drowsy Yuu behind. If this were Yuu, she'd be dragging him by the hand. But for some reason, he couldn't bring himself to do so, so Masayuki settled for grabbing her arm instead. It kind of seemed more natural to him, plus he wouldn't be distracted with how soft her hands felt the first time she grabbed his.

He couldn't help but notice how frequent Yuu had been yawning since they left the school grounds. He did keep her _way_ beyond school hours. She wasn't probably used to staying awfully late outside as much as he was (a working man's gotta do what he's gotta do). The young man stole a glance at his companion and saw just how sleepy and tired the young lady was.

Masayuki walked a little faster and stopped in front of Yuu, kneeling. He turned to look at the young lady who only stared at him blankly.

"H-Hori-sensei, what are you doing?" She stammered.

The young man sighed. "Look, Kashima. I don't plan to pick you up when you collapse on the way because of drowsiness so before that even happens, I'll carry you now."

But she didn't climb on his back instantly. "But... I might be heavy for you, sensei."

He sighed again. "That's the least of my worries now, frankly. C'mon, I'll give you a piggyback home."

She stared at him a little longer before relenting and climbing on his back. Before he started walking, Masayuki checked if she was comfortable already. He grabbed her legs and easily lifted her off the ground. She was lighter than he thought, considering her height. But he wasn't going to say. _'You're not supposed to talk about weight with women, right?'_

He felt her adjust on his hold as he continued walking. "You know, Hori-sensei, I'm usually the one giving piggyback rides to people." She shared as she stifled a yawn. "It actually feels nice being carried for once."

Masayuki snorted. "If you wanted to be carried, just tell me." _'Oh, really now, Masayuki.'_

"But won't your back suffer?"

"Idiot," he muttered, "I didn't mean everyday!"

Yuu let out a tired chuckle (that the young man secretly kept safe in his memory). "But what if I want to be carried everyday?"

He rolled his eyes in disbelief. This young lady was truly something else, that he was certain.

"Then go find someone else to do that for you. I'm not your horse."

"You're so mean, Hori-sensei." She whined, and he could imagine her pouting adorably. Masayuki snickered.

"Only to you, Kashima."


	9. Hell Week (Part 2)

**Chapter Nine: Hell Week (Part 2): Intermission**

"Hori-sensei, I know this is supposed to be a mock test for the finals this term, but this is so hard!" A student complained upon receiving his sheet of mock test.

"Aizawa-san, you haven't even answered anything and you're already complaining." Masayuki chided as he went around the room to distribute more papers. "Go do that when you're done."

"Oh no, I forgot how to solve this!" Another student exclaimed in horror. Masayuki shook his head.

"That's why I keep on telling you to always bring your index card with you. That way you can refer to the different formulae anytime." He said in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Hori-sensei, if we're done before the meeting ends, can we pass?"

"Wait, Fujisawa. I think you mean to ask, 'will you pass?'"

And the class erupted into hearty laughter.

Masayuki rolled his notebook and slammed it on the desk repeatedly to get everyone's attention. "If you guys have time to banter, you have time to answer, so do it!" He ordered, flashing his class a stern look.

The first twenty minutes of the mock test went swimmingly. Masayuki went around the room to check if anybody was attempting to cheat, which was actually a ridiculous thought because the test itself wasn't graded. Nonetheless, better be sure that none of them were plotting under his watch because that was just terrible.

"Hori-sensei, I just noticed something odd." A student suddenly piped in, crashing the quiet and somewhat tensed atmosphere inside the classroom.

"Hmm?" he hummed as he turned round to look at the student. "Is it about any of the items in your mock test?"

The student shook his head. "Where's Kashima-sensei?"

His seatmate looked up from solving and scrunched her face. "Now that he mentioned it, where is Kashima-sensei?"

A chorus of 'yeah's' filled the room in an instant as the students momentarily forgot their task for the day. The young instructor sighed in exasperation.

"She said she won't be able to come today because she needs to meet up with her practicum adviser, but she'll join us again tomorrow." The young man shared.

"Oh, how come sensei knows about Kashima-sensei's schedule?" He didn't miss the teasing in his student's tone.

Masayuki decided to humour them this time-which was actually a pretty bad decision that he'd realize a little later.

"I'm her mentor; it's only proper to inform your mentor or anybody who's above you if you're showing up or not." He nonchalantly supplied, shooting the student his signature stern teacher look.

"Burn!" he heard someone comment at the back of the room. That particular boy was also rewarded with a stern look.

A student raised his hand.

The young man ignored the funny feeling he was having in his guts. "What is it, Teshigawara-san?"

The young teen fixed the frame of his glasses in place, and cleared his throat before speaking. "How do you find Kashima-sensei?"

'What the hell, Teshigawara? Are you digging your own grave, you wretched boy?' Masayuki yelled in his head as he tried not to lift the nearest desk within his reach and chuck it squarely on his student's face.

The young man tried to keep the seriousness in his face and in his tone, hoping his act wouldn't falter. "Kashima-sensei is fine. She's very eager, helpful, and she picks up instructions pretty well."

This time it was Aizawa. "By fine, do you mean fine or damn fine?"

'God damn it, Aizawa. If these punks weren't my students I'd have flung them all across the next town!'

"You're not supposed to talk about your teachers in that manner." He coolly escaped interrogation and the class all "ooh-ed."

Masayuki thought that the teasing would die down and everyone would just forget about it when Fujiwara suddenly supplied something unnecessary, but totally juicy. For the students, that is.

"Hey guys!" he exclaimed cheerily, "did you know that I saw them once eating dinner together in a small stall? They were sitting closely you'd almost think they're a couple!"

The girls squealed in giddiness and the guys cheered, and Masayuki? Well, he could feel every bit of his skin burning that he wouldn't be surprised if his whole body was shining red from sheer embarrassment alone. Of course he remembered that evening well. Yuu was craving for some ramen and fishcakes so they settled on the lone stall they found on their way to her house. If his memory served him right, Yuu claimed that she was tired from training so the young man, being stupidly drawn to his stupid teaching assistant, stupidly allowed her to lean her stupid head on his. 'Stupid Masayuki! How can you just let your guard down just like that?' he berated himself as that evening played vividly in his mind. He honestly didn't expect anybody to see them around that hour let alone a student from this school. 'Lord above, please take me now.'

"Oh look! Hori-sensei is red!"

"Hey, Hori-sensei, do you miss Kashima-sensei right now? Because we do!"

"What do you like about Kashima-sensei?"

"When did you realize that she's the one?"

"How many dates have you been to?"

"Please tell us how it all began, sensei!"

Seriously, if these little bastards weren't his students and if he weren't their teacher, he would've done something so violent to them that they'd wish they never started teasing him in the first place. However, he had a role to play and a job to keep, so Masayuki tried his best to placate the rising irritation threatening to spill over in case any of them decided to say the magic word (or at least something that would really rile him up). After all, being teased by the students was actually part of his job. The young instructor pulled himself together, taking all violent thoughts captive, and exhaling his annoyance instead.

"You know, class, there are more important things you need to worry about than the state of my social life, like your mock test right now." He coolly retorted as he pointed on the wall clock. "You only have twenty minutes left to answer everything."

At his prompting, the whole class was hurled back to reality as the students panicked and started answering their mock test once more like they should've done earlier. 'That'll silence them.'

The class ended without much teasing, thankfully, but he didn't miss the mischief in the eyes of his male students as they personally handed their test papers to him. One even had the audacity to wiggle his brows suggestively before whispering: "You know, Hori-sensei, I approve your taste in women."

Masayuki swore he had to remind himself of his job or he would've lifted the boy up and throw him out the window, flying straight to the tennis courts. He settled for glaring at the student instead. The boy walked back to his seat, a little terrified.

His next class wouldn't start in an hour, so he thought of checking the first batch of mock tests for the day. He opened the door to the faculty room and was greeted by the unwelcome sight of Yuu, sitting on her makeshift desk by the corner and reading one of his Math manuals. Unwelcome, because he thought she wasn't supposed to show up today like she said.

"Oh, Hori-sensei, good morning!" she greeted, beaming as she looked up from reading. "You need help checking those papers?"

But he missed her offer for assistance. "I thought you're supposed to be absent today?"

She closed the manual and angled her body towards the door so that she was facing her mentor. "Well, my practicum adviser had to end our session earlier than expected because of an emergency meeting, so I decided to come here instead." Yuu pouted jokingly. "Aren't you happy I'm here?"

"Uh, no, I mean, I'm okay with you being here, but I didn't really expect you to come today, I guess." He stammered as he walked to his desk and placed the papers on top of more papers. "I'll record your hours today, if that's the case."

She waved her hand. "You don't have to, sensei. I called in absent so I'm technically still absent even if I'm here. Plus it means I get to stay for more days for practicum!"

He looked at her blankly. "Then you should've just gone home if you're going to tell me not to count your hours today."

The young lady frowned. "But sensei, no one's around at home at this hour! I'll feel bored for the rest of the day." She whined, clinging on to his arm and shaking it.

"Then do something to occupy your time." he stated, rolling his eyes and tugging his arm away from her grip. "Common sense, Kashima."

Masayuki was slightly bothered when he saw her face look a little sombre. 'Did I just offend her?'

"Actually, Hori-sensei, it's not that I can't find things to do to occupy my time; it's more of I don't want to think about something too much." Yuu confessed casually, as if they had been friends for a long time. He grew even more bothered at how her usual soprano dropped about two octaves lower. 'Since when did I become so sensitive with the little things about Kashima?'

"Hey, Kashima, are you going through something?" he prodded as he kneeled to meet her eyes.

She flashed him a wistful smile. "It's a secret."

The young man pinched her cheeks in slight irritation. "Okay, I'll respect that."

It was at that moment when a student decided to open the door inside the faculty room without even knocking. "Good morning, teachers! May I please-oh."

And to make matters worse, it was a female student from the class he just endured the teasing from earlier.

Without any context to support why he was kneeling down in front of his mentee and why Yuu's cheeks were pink as if she was flustered, some of the initial assumptions would be A: he said something sweet and unexpected that caused the young lady to blush; B: he was in the middle of a heartfelt confession; and C-wait a flipping second! The third option shouldn't even be included in the options. This was a school for crying out loud.

Why was this day turning out to be this way already? It wasn't even afternoon, yet!

Masayuki tried to calmly pass it off casually as he stood up and cleared his throat. "Yes, Nanahara-san?" he prompted, raising an eyebrow at the student.

The young girl gulped nervously. "Well, I was looking for Okawa-sensei since she's not yet with us even if our classes ended about five minutes ago, and, and, well..." Nanahara paused and bowed. "I'm sorry for disturbing! I promise I didn't see anything!" She claimed, blushing five shades of red, before slamming the door close and scurrying back to her classroom.

Between the two of them, Yuu was the first to get her bearings back.

"What was that for?" she innocently inquired as she looked up to Masayuki.

He could feel his cheeks burning again. "It's something that doesn't concern you." He quickly lied.

The young lady stood up, her pretty face tarnished with aghast. "Hori-sensei!" she yelled, "you're red! Oh no, are you feeling sick again like the last time?" She was about to reach out for his forehead when he gripped her wrist to stop her.

"Don't fret, Kashima; I'm not sick." He assured her, hoping he didn't sound like he was trying too hard to be calm. "I just... it's a secret, too." He retorted, smirking smugly at her.

It didn't take so long for the students from his first class to find out that Yuu had showed up after all. On their way to the faculty pantry, they were spotted by a group of students who just exited the room for recess. Said students flocked over her, fawning and telling her how lonely it felt without her presence in the room, something Masayuki thought was silly because she had only been assisting and observing his class for almost a month and a half. The student who he glared at? He had the gall to complain about Masayuki scaring him a bit in class, eliminating some elements of the story for his benefit. Masayuki only rolled his eyes as the students continued to chatter with their beloved Kashima-sensei while he eavesdropped inside the pantry.

"You know, Kashima-sensei, Hori-sensei was being elusive about certain things earlier in class, so maybe we should ask you instead!"

Another student seconded. "Oh my gosh, yes! Ask her, Yayoi-san! Ask her!"

"Eh, ask me what?" Yuu looked at each of the students alternately in perplexity.

Even at the sound of students cheering and whistling, Masayuki's ears perked up when he caught that statement. 'Surely this kid isn't serious, is she?'

For good measure he decided to stay within close range in case. Lucky for him, the group was huddled nearby the pantry.

"Fujiwara-kun said he saw you and Hori-sensei eating dinner together one time at a small stall. Are you two secretly dating?"

Masayuki's jaw fell. He felt as if his blood was slowly being drained from his body. 'Teenagers these days are this shameless already? And she is their teacher, too, for delicacy's sake.'

The young lady let out an awkward chuckle. "Hori-sensei and I? Secretly dating?" she repeated, a hint of nervousness in her tone. "Well... he's treated me to dinner several times already. Sometimes he treats me desserts, depending on the mood, I guess."

If Masayuki could only smash his head on the nearby wall right now and let his brain explode, he would've done so. 'That's not how you're supposed to answer, dummy! You're making it worse than it already is!' he yelled mentally as his hands closed and opened in agitation.

He heard more shrieking and cheering and whistling from outside. "The ship is real!" one of them even yelled, whatever the hell that meant. Masayuki proceeded retrieving some snacks from one of the cabinets and was about to get the chocolates that Yuu had placed in the refrigerator for safe keeping when something reached his ears clearly.

"Kashima-sensei, be honest; do you like Hori-sensei?"

In a flash, the bag of chocolates was in his hands, secure with the sandwiches that the school canteen provided that day. He kicked the refrigerator door closed and began to march outside to keep Yuu from drowning them deeper in the pool of embarrassment.

What he didn't expect, though, was how easy it was for her to answer that loaded question.

"Is that even a question?" Of course, I like Hori-sensei!"

Masayuki froze mid-march. Hi annoyance was instantly washed away by that state-'No, Masayuki, no! Just no! This isn't the time and place to be happy. She probably means it in the most platonic of ways.' Masayuki gathered himself as he grabbed Yuu's arm with his available hand and tugging it. 'But still.'

"Okay, that's enough questions from everyone!" he said to his students, looking at each one of them before continuing. "Kashima-sensei and I have something to talk about over our working break. Go eat up, too, since it's also your break time." He didn't wait for any reactions from his students as he dragged his mentee back to the faculty room.

He missed the instant gossiping that came after their departure.

"You know, if you give it much thought, Kashima-sensei and Hori-sensei actually look cute together."

One of them agreed, nodding eagerly. "Do you notice the exchanging of small smiles they usually do whenever their eyes meet in class?"

"You know, Tomoko-chan, I hate to burst your bubble, but I'm pretty sure that's only a product of your vivid mind theatre."

Tomoko rolled her eyes and sneered. "Whatever. Pay close attention if you don't believe me."

Back in the faculty room, Masayuki and Yuu quietly ate their snacks on their respective desks, for once, since they started becoming comfortable with each other's presence. Now that, that had been mentioned, the young man couldn't exactly recall how their... this... arrangement began. Yuu got along with everyone in their department quite quickly, so it somewhat felt as if she wasn't an intern and that he and she had been working closely since the beginning. What he did know was that he was incredibly fascinated by her presence and, well, just her.

He snickered. 'What the hell, Masayuki. What's with feeling suddenly embarrassed and awkward just because of a silly comment? You're not in high school anymore.'

"What's so funny, Hori-sensei?"

Yuu's voice startled him from his musing, and he was even more startled when the next thing that registered was how dangerously close her face was from his, her back slouched so that she could level her gaze with his. The young lady even wore an amused smile as her eyes searched for any clue written on his face. Even from this angle, Masayuki noted how pretty and flawless she truly was. 'This is dangerous territory.'

Thankfully, Masayuki didn't jump or fall from his seat at the sudden intrusion of his personal space, something that Yuu was also good at, he realized. He was able to calm the beating of his heart, his breathing, and his head in time for a reply. He didn't hold her gaze this time.

"I just remembered something, that's all." He curtly said as he looked away. "Anyway, want to help me finish checking the mock tests?"

Masayuki was going to lie if he would deny that every time the back of their hands would brush whenever he handed her papers to double check, his hand would feel tingly. The last time he felt something akin to that was probably around the last year of his high school to early college years. He found the scenario laughable, childish, and a terrible cliché, fit for romance novels that catered to naive teenagers. He was pretty sure that this wasn't the first time that their hands have brushed-heck! She had held his hand many times already-so he found it strange how he was suddenly aware of how a part of her skin felt on his-and, as much as it made him want to crawl deeper in the cave of shame (because as far as he knew, he wasn't really into clichéd moments like this one), it was a good feeling. 'Kind of like how exquisite silk feels like when you touch it.'

Damn Yuu Kashima; damn the most precious creature that had ever been made to live this lifetime.

"Hori-sensei," she called, "are you done editing the draft of your exam?"

He looked up from checking. "Yes, I'm done. Why?"

"Well, I figure I could help you again if you're doing revisions. It's not like I have other things to do this term anyway." She told him, scratching her chin with her pointing finger and donning a small smile.

Masayuki smiled fondly as he reached for head to ruffle her (soft) hair. "Don't worry about it, Kashima; revisions are a lot easier than writing the whole exam. You can go have a fun time with friends, if you want."

The young lady frowned. "Mikoshiba's pretty busy with waiting, and Chiyo-chan and Yuzuki have their practicum duties, too-and oh, did you know that there's this kid from Yuzuki's PE class a year ago who suddenly got friendly with her in a very strange manner after a short basketball match in one of the neighbourhood parks?-so as much as I want to have a fun time with them, we can't." Yuu sighed. "And well, I guess I've gotten used to staying overtime with Hori-sensei that it feels weird going home early like before?"

Clearly, this girl was implying something.

"Really, Kashima?" the young man smirked before proceeding. "So what do you have in mind after school hours? What are you craving for at the moment? Or perhaps you have something else in mind other than the usual dinner-dessert times?"

Masayuki found himself being dragged inside a kitschy and overtly kawaii photo booth that allowed users to generate sticker photos with various designed frames to choose from. He reminded himself that when you actually ask Yuu what she wanted to do, she would really drag you to doing it with her. In this case, Yuu wanted to take sticker photos with her 'beloved mentor' (her words) to commemorate their friendship (her words again), something like that. He would complain because he wanted to, but then he remembered that he actually asked her if she wanted to do anything after school hours. Way to go, digging his own grave.

This was probably the cheesiest and most unlikely thing for him to do, but with Yuu's vice grip and insistence, Masayuki found that resisting was futile. And come on, sticker photos were actually kind of cute (emphasize on the words: kind of), but only if it were Yuu asking him to join her.

"Oh my gosh, we look so cute here!" Yuu gushed cheerily as she busied herself adding silly designs over their photo, her version of prettifying it.

"I don't think those things are necessary, though. Don't they obstruct the image instead?" He commented as he tried to peek from her shoulder.

The young lady stopped with what she was doing to shoot his mentor a look of disbelief. "The purpose of this booth is to make photos cuter, Hori-sensei, not make them look like generic ones, if you haven't realized that." She looked back to the screen and went on designing their photos liberally.

The booth ejected a series of the same photos with various designs on them, thanks to Yuu's artistic tastes (which, Masayuki learned, was a cross between flash yet feminine). He watched as the young lady's eyes lit up as she grabbed the sticker photos and studied every single one with fondness that he was certain his face was also showing.

"It's our first picture together ever, Hori-sensei!" she announced as she held on to it. "It's just a little disappointing that we didn't get a photo of us together during your birthday, but this is already good enough." She carefully removed one sticker from the set. "Hey, sensei, hand me your phone."

Masayuki raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"I'm gonna stick one on your phone so that way you have a remembrance of this day."

"But I already have a remembrance from you on my phone, remember?" He said as he fished for his phone inside his pants pocket to show her the phone charms she bought for them previously.

A sly smile crossed her lips. "Well, do you want me to stick this on your heart instead so that I'll always be in your heart?"

"What the hell, Kashima!"

Yuu laughed heartily. "I was just joking, Hori-sensei; no need to get all flustered! Come on, now, I'll put one on my phone, too so that we're still matching."

'Does this girl even understand what she's doing?'

In the end, both of them had sticker photos at the back of their phones ("Still matching!" Yuu said happily). They once again fell into their usual routine of him walking her home. He found it to have become one of his favourite times after a long day, but of course he wasn't just going to openly admit it. Not yet. He also wasn't going to admit that his least favourite part was watching her unlock the gate to their house because that meant he'd be walking home alone. Not that he had problems with that at all, but like Yuu, he had gotten used to being around her that it almost felt natural.

'But she's an intern. The only relationship we should have is professional.' He often reminded himself somewhat bitterly every time he closed his eyes at night, in an attempt to sleep, but would end up thinking about her instead.

* * *

Some of the students' names that I used here are borrowed from different anime. And I still have no laptop yet so uploading has been really quite a challenge. T^T


	10. Flirty, Flamboyant, and Flustered

**Chapter Ten: Flirty, Flamboyant, and Flustered**

Yuu hypothesized that if she talked about the welling feeling inside her, it would stop bothering her temporarily, at least until she made sense of her thoughts. Sometimes she cursed reading into things a little too much like the one time her red pen ran out of ink from all the checking of drills and short tests that had accumulated on Masayuki's desk over the week and her most precious Hori-sensei went to the school's bookstore and bought her three. Three meant 'I love you,' right? So was he discreetly making his feelings known or something?

And then came the frequent overtimes because the school's Math team went on a week-long mentorship thing in preparation for the upcoming regional Math contest. While she wasn't really required to stay because she was just an intern, Yuu volunteered to stay and help out Masayuki and the other teachers who were the designated coaches of the Math team. In all those overtimes, he would take her out to dinner—at some stall, in some small restaurant, wherever their feet led them—and even if she insisted that she could pay her share. Actually, Yuu mentally noted all the times that Masayuki paid for something for her. The only ones who paid for your expenses that weren't romantically inclined with you were your parents or any family member, right? He wasn't some relative, oh no (and it would be the death of Yuu if he turned out to be one). So why did he keep on insisting to pay for things that could probably be something that wasn't part of his weekly budget? She had allowances, too, mind you. Were those dates she was unaware of? But weren't dates supposed to be known to both

And though he did show concern about her at times, Yuu sometimes found it odd when he would stare at her face like there was something wrong with her before asking if she got enough sleep or feeling under the weather. She appreciated the attention and the concern that she was being showered with, but even he wasn't this concerned about her the first few times. Perhaps he was just really caring?

With all honesty, Yuu actually didn't mind everything at all. She liked Hori-sensei—maybe even a little too much—but it was getting frustrating to a point. She found it silly that she was being friendly with her mentor (whom she only met a month ago) and now, they were both friendly with each other. Enough to raise brows of suspecting people that something could be developing between them. Yuu knew very well the difference between naivete and stupidity. She was only naive, but she wasn't stupid, that was for sure.

She did acknowledge her growing feelings for Masayuki, but she actually didn't expect it to escalate with all the things he was doing and had done the previous days. It didn't help that she saw him everyday except on weekends, and would sometimes linger beyond her required hours just to intentionally spend more time with him. On his end, he didn't seem to mind her company.

The welling feeling inside didn't ebb like she hoped it would so she decided to test out her hunch.

Mikoto was lucky enough to be granted a day-off from his part-time job at her favourite desserts place. Seizing the opportunity to open up, she called him up and told him that she'd be coming over to talk about something. Yuu didn't even wait for his reply because she knew that his doors were always open for her. So now, she found herself inside her best friend's quarters, watching him play one of his dating sims game that he never seemed to outgrow since high school.

"Something's bothering me, Mikoshiba." Yuu began as she played with the corners of Mikoto's pillow, her face contorted in a pensive manner. "It's about Hori-sensei."

"Hmm?" Mikoto hummed without looking up from his game. "What about Hori-sensei? Did he do something to you?"

The young lady shook her head even though her best friend wouldn't see and gave out a long sigh. "You know I like him, right?"

"You claimed that a hundred times or more," he agreed, eyes still glued on his TV screen.

Yuu unfolded her legs from Mikoto's bed and stood only to sit beside him, tugging the hem of his shirt sleeve. "But this time, Mikoshiba... I think it's real."

At her confession, the young man paused his game and focused his attention on her. "You mean to say this is unlike the past 'I think I like this person so much' moments you've had since high school?" He raised an eyebrow and smirked. "Kashima, can you even hear yourself?" The disbelief in his tone was thick as syrup.

Yuu's response was to roll her eyes. "This is different, I swear! In fact, I think I might be in love! Have you ever been in love, Mikoshiba?"

"I-In love?" Mikoto's eyes widened like saucers at Yuu's somewhat intrusive inquiry. "Kashima, can you really hear yourself?!"

She heaved a frustrated sigh. "Perfectly well, Mikoshiba. Can you at least hear me out?"

The young man shot her a suspicious glare before his features turned poker and he finally relented. Mikoto grabbed his controller, quickly saving the progress he made in the game and shutting off the device. "Okay, Kashima. Try me."

Yuu briefly wondered how people could just be so open about their feelings when they talk about it. She knew she was pretty vocal about things that sometimes she'd be caught with her foot sticking in her mouth for saying a little too much (usually around Masayuki). However, here she was, fumbling for words and mentally arranging a coherent statement for Mikoto's benefit. _'Can't have myself bumbling like an idiot, after all,'_ she told herself as she began sorting out how she was going to start her story.

Mikoto's face inched a bit closer at her, as if examining some vital signs of sickness coming up. "Are you okay, Kashima?"

She nodded, almost too quickly, as she scratched her nape in nervousness. "Uh, I've been feeling pretty funny around Hori-sensei, which is weird because I've always been around him since I started with my practicum. But when he looks up to me to meet my eyes or when I become aware of how close we are, that's when the funny feelings start. My stomach does flip-flops inside that I swear my organs are one big jumbled mess after. Sometimes my mind blanks out, too. And if my heart threatening to explode out of my chest isn't a sign that _I_ _like him more than I think_ , then I don't know what this is about, really.

"If my memory serves me right, the funny feelings began after I invited Hori-sensei over dinner at my house. By some stroke of impulse, I asked him to stay after he walked me home. We ate with my family so my parents and Yuuki finally got to meet him. I talked about him a lot during dinners anyway, so yeah, hello family! Meet Hori-sensei in the flesh! Over dinner, we were all happy and filled and talking when..." Yuu paused to breathe, "...something like an epiphany hit me hard that night."

Mikoto cocked his head to the side. "An epiphany? Of what kind?"

Yuu held Mikoto's shoulders and shook him gently. "Isn't that what couples do? Eat dinner with the family? That was the first thing that registered in my head!"

"Well, you've invited me over dinner several times, and you've eaten dinner here, too, with my parents, but we're not... wait, unless. Wait? Huh?" Confusion and embarrassment was written all over Mikoto's face as he tore his eyes away from Yuu's, his face quickly matching the colour of his hair.

Yuu's face became stoic. "No offense, Mikoshiba, but you never were my type to begin with. I never got those funny feelings when I'm around you. You're really just my best friend."

If the shade of Mikoto's face a few minutes ago didn't match his hair, now it did. He chuckled awkwardly and sighed in relief. "I thought something's up between us and I've no idea, hahaha. Yeah, yeah, we're best friends." He mumbled, evening his breath and calming himself. "Anyway, you were saying?"

She sighed. "Anyway, so when that thought occurred to me, I began to consider the possibility of, you know, us. What if Hori-sensei was my boyfriend? It wasn't a bad idea since I like him and my family seems to be fine with him, and we do work together well if I may say so myself. It's almost perfect!" Her hold on Mikoto's shoulders was firmer this time. "Mikoshiba, I've never, _never_ considered things like that with the previous crushes I've had. Hori-sensei beats them all easily! And why wouldn't he? He's great!"

Mikoto nodded. "Like you said a bajillion times," he murmured.

"No, Mikoshiba! He's truly amazing. When he prepares for his classes, when he studies for his next lesson and his brows are furrowed in deep concentration, when he talks about his students and you can see his face light up with pride and joy, when he looks up every single time I call him and meets my eyes—God forbid I'd go insane seeing those little things about him every single day at practicum. He's... he's so adorable."

The young man looked at her funny.

"Did I tell you about the time I went to his house because he was sick? I met his brother, too, who's also cute but taller and he also goes to my school, but that's not the point. When Hori-sensei told his brother that I was his teaching assistant, it hurt a bit because I couldn't help but wonder if I'm only _a teaching assistant_ to him, and—"

"Woah, slow down!" Mikoto managed to interrupt Yuu's rambling. "Your story's becoming convoluted! You're just babbling now."

Yuu's hands transferred to her friend's collar. "Mikoshiba, I can't stop talking about him because I can't stop thinking about him, too!"

The young man stared at his friend. "Oh my—Kashima, you really are nuts for this guy!" He snickered. "The flirty Yuu Kashima finally has eyes for someone, and that someone makes her flustered no less!"

Yuu snorted and finally let go of Mikoto. "C'mon, you don't have to stroke my ego; you're pretty popular yourself!"

Mikoto rolled his eyes and blushed characteristically. "But you can play the part well... unlike me." But he only whispered the last part to himself. "Well, it kinda seems to me that everything's pretty clear to you so why are we having this talk again?"

The young lady frowned. "Well, my chest feels like exploding only thinking about it so I figured maybe if I talked about it, the swelling feeling would subside."

"Has it?"

She placed her hand on her chest and stilled herself for a minute. "...No."

This time, it was Mikoto's turn to place his hands on her shoulders, levelling his gaze with hers. "Maybe you need to tell him everything? I mean, as long as you keep it hidden, it's just going to accumulate and make things harder. And besides, everything gets revealed eventually anyway."

Yuu gulped. "I don't think I can tell him everything... yet."

Mikoto frowned as his eyes darted to the ceiling. "Think of it this way," he cleared his throat. "You know how you're able to tell your fans the things they want to hear? Those girls who just want to be reminded of how pretty they really are and the guys who instantly feel lighter when you compliment them, too? Maybe it'll be easier for you to say it if you imagined Hori-sensei as one of your fans or something."

"But Hori-sensei isn't like that at all." Yuu considered a bit, imagining a fawning Masayuki, clamouring for her attention and melting like goo in her arms like most of the students crowding her did. Her nose crinkled at the unwelcome and uncharacteristic image. "Yup, Hori-sensei isn't like that at all, and will _never_ be like that at all." She shook her head and shuddered a bit as she tried her hardest to remove the image of a smarmy Hori-sensei in her head.

The young man shrugged. "Just suggesting, but I guess you don't have to tell him somehow? Good luck with your heart, though."

 _'Yeah, good luck with my heart,'_ Yuu repeated in her head as she crossed the other side of the road. She had left Mikoto's house a few minutes ago and was already on her way home to work on the other papers she needed to complete for her practicum when something solid, tiny, and fragrant hit her squarely on her chest.

"Oof!" Yuu grunted. She looked down and saw a familiar shade of orange and those very familiar bows that only belonged to, "Chiyo-chan!" she called out, her face immediately lighting up. "I'm sorry I was in deep thought, and didn't see you walking."

Chiyo looked up, still rubbing her nose from the collision. "It's okay, Kashima-kun! I wasn't paying attention either so I wasn't able to move out of the way or something." The smile on Chiyo's face didn't last long however. "Something on your mind, Kashima-kun?"

"Eh? Whatever do you mean, Chiyo-chan?"

The smaller girl frowned. "You did say you were in deep thought earlier, and well, you're obviously distracted. What's going on?"

Somehow, Yuu's plan to go straight home after her trip to Mikoto's place changed in a short period of time at Chiyo's sudden appearance. The two ladies found themselves at a nearby park, crepes in hand, and sitting on swings that were adjacent to each other. Both of them slightly moved their swings as they both finished their cold treats. Chiyo patiently listened as Yuu poured out her thoughts about her beloved mentor and her growing feelings, too. Basically the same things she talked to Mikoshiba about.

"I'm sorry, Chiyo-chan. You had to listen to me babble on." She apologized after her long narration. "Now that I think about it, this is pretty embarrassing!" Yuu whined as she covered her face with her hands. "Maybe I don't _just_ like him; maybe I really am in love with Hori-sensei!" The young lady cried dramatically.

Chiyo chuckled. "What's wrong with that?"

Yuu tilted her head slightly to her left to look at her friend. "Nothing, I guess. I just don't know what to do with my feelings for the most part since we're supposed to be colleagues, and colleagues are supposed to be formal with each other. Is it because our age gap is so close that I feel like we're... friends or something? I mean, sure, he's my mentor, but _I like him a lot already._ "

"Like you said a million times," her friend murmured. Chiyo tried to reach out for Yuu's shoulder to give her a comforting pat. "I think I understand what you mean, Kashima-kun. Would you mind if I share my story?"

The young lady removed her hands from her face and shifted on her swing, turning a bit so that her body was somewhat angle towards her friend. Chiyo took it as her cue to start talking.

"There's another student intern in the school where I'm doing my practicum. The first time I met him, I thought he was really cool. He's tall, he's quiet, he doesn't look bad in the eyes—he was so manly." The smaller lady gushed as she described said student intern animatedly. "When we got to know each other during breaks and the constant meeting up at the school's supplies room, I began to notice his little quirks which were pretty dorky for the most part. Turns out he's such a big nerd." She rolled her eyes and giggled. "But that makes him even more likable. Did you know that he's not so good at shading and yet he's an art teacher intern? Can you believe that guy? I actually gave him a crash course once during one of our lunch breaks!" Chiyo recounted, laughing.

As Chiyo continued talking about her practicum crush, Yuu couldn't help but match the wide grin that her friend was sporting. Chiyo looked so happy!

"Do you like him so much, too? Like are you fond of him or something? Like how I feel towards Hori-sensei?" Yuu asked, smiling fondly at her blushing friend.

Chiyo nodded. Her grin morphed to a slight smile as her face contorted to one of thoughtfulness. "I like him so much, you have no idea." She admitted without much struggling, but heaved a sigh. "I did try telling him my feelings, but it seems like it doesn't get through his head or something; it's really _frustrating_ , Kashima-kun." Chiyo glanced at Yuu and shook her head.

Yuu's eyes widened. "You actually managed to tell him that?"

"Yeah, with much courage, too," she recounted, snorting. "It didn't come out as intended, though. Instead of telling him exactly how I feel and asking him out, I ended up saying that I'm his fan or something." Chiyo rolled her eyes and lightly slapped her face in the memory.

Yuu giggled. "Yeah, that is frustrating. Well, what did he say?"

"Nothing. He's probably just as shocked as I am afterwards. But it's okay this way, I guess. I mean, even after that, he didn't avoid me or stopped talking to me. In fact, it even feels like we've become better friends the past few weeks, and I'd rather have that than nothing at all, frankly." The smaller girl smiled wistfully.

"Chiyo-chan is so brave, and he's kind of an idiot for not realizing that." Yuu said as she was swinging. "But I guess you're right; being friends is better than nothing at all."

 _'Maybe I should enjoy what we have right now, too, instead of looking too close into things?'_ the young lady began to consider. _'I mean, Hori-sensei could just be like that to anyone, for all I know.'_

"You're pretty lucky, though, Kashima-kun." Chiyo quipped, giggling afterwards.

"Eh? Why?"

"Weeell, Hori-sensei seems to have noticed you for a while now, if I may say so myself."

Yuu stopped swinging and sent dusts flying as she used her legs as her brake. "What do you mean, Chiyo-chan?" she asked, face scrunching to puzzlement.

Chiyo angled her body towards her friend. "We haven't gotten out so much with him, but in those times that we did, the way he looks at you fondly is a dead giveaway." She immediately switched to fan girl mode. "I wish somebody would also look at me that way!"

A faint shade of pink tinted Yuu's cheeks. "Huh, Ch-Chiyo-chan! You're probably reading too much, ahahaha!" Yuu waved her hand dismissively. "Wait, he does?! He looks at me _fondly_?"

Yuu was certainly _not happy_ about that. And she was certainly _not feeling giddy_.

"Trust me, Kashima-kun; I've read enough _shoujo_ _manga_ to tell what different looks mean." Chiyo cackled, but since it was Chiyo, she did so cutely. "So how's the welling feeling in your chest?"

She placed her hand on her chest and exhaled. "...It's still there, but I suppose it's gonna stay there for quite some time. This feeling is really something else, Chiyo-chan. I really don't know how people can put up with this on a regular basis."

"I'm actually surprised that there's a side of you like this." Chiyo mumbled. "I guess heartthrobs aren't immune to warm, fuzzy feelings, too, huh?"

Yuu shrugged her shoulders. "I guess so."

The young lady grinned as she stood up from her swing and dusted her pants off. "Well, it's almost sundown. Want me to take you home, my lovely doll?" Yuu playfully bowed and extended her hand to her friend. Chiyo only snorted and shook her head.

"You know, if you were someone else, I'd be thrilled. But thank you, Kashima-kun. You can even stay home for dinner. We're having your favourite!"

Yuu's eyes lit up in sheer cheer. "Really? Yay!"

* * *

HELLO IT'S ME... RISEN FROM THE DEAD. Or not really. I'm really, really sorry I haven't been updating _Four Months_ regularly (and as intended). Grad school has taken over for the most part, and I've been caught with the Shingeki no Kyojin virus so I've been pretty absent here. Rest assured, this fic will be completed no matter what. :D Anyway, if any of you who follow/read this are into SnK, please check out my SnK fic, **_Let's Be Weird Together_** , featuring another pairing that has taken over my life: LeviHan! :D

Thank you for still reading this story. :D


	11. It Deepens

To loren: Thank you for the review! To be honest, I do ship KashiMiko, in a weird way, and I actually have a lot of secret ships (?) in this series you have no idea. Haha! XD

Anyway, here's chapter 11!

* * *

 **Chapter Eleven: It Deepens**

"Winter break's about to come," Yuu started as she fiddled on the hem of her shirt, trying to fix the loose thread, "got any plans, Hori-sensei?"

Masayuki pondered for a short while before answering. "My family usually goes on a retreat in the mountains during winter break, and—oh, Mitsue's birthday is on the 10th of December, and you're actually invited. Mitsue asked me to invite you for some reason."

The young lady's eyes lit up in excitement. "Really?"

"You look so happy, it's almost annoying." The young man deadpanned before fishing for his phone inside his pocket. "I'm telling him you have other plans."

Yuu grabbed his phone from him, though wary of snatching it and dropping it by accident. "Hey, I really want to go, sensei!" she raised her voice, almost whining like a kid. "Besides, your mom did say on her letter that she wants to meet me in person someday. That someday could be on your brother's birthday."

Masayuki's eyes widened. "Letter? What letter? And since when did you and 'kaa-san began exchanging letters?"

She frowned, shaking her head. "Remember the time when your mom asked you to bring me a _bento_? She inserted a not in it."

The young lady proceeded rummaging inside her bag. A smile formed on her lips when she found a familiar, almost crumpled pink stationery from under her things inside her bag. "Here!" She lifted said letter up and held it in front of him.

Masayuki grabbed the letter from her and read it. "What?!"

He was about to tear it to pieces, but Yuu's hands were quick. She managed to grab it from him, crumpling the paper in the process, but at least it was safe from his hands. Yuu's eyes narrowed.

"I've kept this for weeks, sensei; don't tear it." She placed the letter on her desk and flattened it. "It's kind of like a memento from the Horis."

Her mentor snorted. "What the hell, Kashima. Anyway, so are you coming to my brother's birthday celebration?"

She beamed. "I wouldn't miss it for the world!"

* * *

The young lady found her mentor standing in front of their gate, arms crossed and sporting a stern look. "You're late."

Yuu only rolled her eyes as she handed a small box to him. "Sensei, I'm only 10 minutes late, okay. I miscalculated my travel time."

Masayuki moved to the side to let her in. "My brother and his friends have been waiting for you, you know."

The pair walked towards the doorstep with the young man leading the way, and stopped at the entrance to remove their footwear.

"He has others invited over?" She asked as she removed her shoes and slipped on the slippers that he prepared and placed in front of her.

"My brother has friends, apparently."

Yuu rolled her eyes. "Haha, very funny, Hori-sensei; I'm in stitches." She stood up as soon as she was done. "So where's the party?"

Masayuki motioned for her to follow him inside, which she did without question. As they were about to enter the dining room, he yelled. "Alright, everyone! The mascot's here!"

Yuu pouted at the introduction, but instantly smiled when she saw Mitsue and his friends seated over at one side of the room. "Happy birthday, Mitsue!" she cheerily greeted.

The young lad beamed at the greeting and stood up. "Thank you, Kashima-senpai!" he chirped before turning to look at his friends to goad. "See? My brother knows Kashima-senpai."

Masayuki only watched as his brother's friends fussed and fawned over the young woman, an amused smile on his face. Said young woman was sport enough to gamely mingle with her juniors. But then again, this was Yuu Kashima were pertaining to. Somehow in the middle of the interaction, when they have gotten _so_ comfortable with each other, when some of his brother's friends have gotten _too close_ for Masayuki's comfort, the amused smile he was sporting earlier wore off. _'What the hell, Masayuki. Is this jealousy creeping in?'_ he berated himself as he watched the guys taking pictures with Yuu.

On impulse, he yanked the young lady away from the group.

"Okay, okay, photoshoot's over! Take your seats." He told them as he dragged Yuu to one of the chairs.

His mom flew past him as she entered the dining room, holding two pitchers of fruit juice and placing them on the counter before greeting the new face that had joined them in the room. "Ah, you must be Kashima!" she said as she moved towards the young lady to shake both her hands. "It's finally nice to meet you in the flesh! You're even more radiant in person!"

Yuu grinned and returned the gesture cheerfully. "Thank you, 'kaa-san! The pleasure's mine, mind you. The lunch you cooked for me was truly scrumptious. Thank you for that!"

Mrs. Hori giggled as she waved a hand dismissively, hiding the pinking of her cheeks. She turned to her son, beaming. "Oh my gosh, Ma-chan! She's such a darling! Why didn't you invite her earlier?"

Well, he would've, and he would've answered her question, but his dad immediately followed, nearly knocking him off his foot as he ambled to the counter to place the tray of food for everyone. Mr. Hori turned to face the group and was quick to spot Yuu. He smiled.

"Well, aren't you a tall lady?" he commented as he strained his neck a bit to meet Yuu's eyes. "Oh, you're _the_ Kashima that Mit-chan wanted to invite!"

Masayuki righted himself and glanced at his companion. "Now you know where I got my height." He said, pointing to his dad.

Mr. Hori let out a hearty laugh as he slapped his son's back three times. "But look, it didn't stop me from being attractive to your mom!"

Masayuki slapped his face with his palm from sheer secondhand embarrassment. "Otou-san, _please._ "

"Well, I guess that explains where Hori-sensei got his cuteness from!" Yuu supplied, and she and Mr. Hori share a laugh together, like old mates or something.

"Kashima, _please_!"

"Please tell me you're _not_ gonna set me up with Kashima." Masayuki muttered as he stabbed the pork with his fork rather forcefully than he should've. He was grouped together with his parents by the corner of the counter as they ate. His parents only exchanged knowing glances and cackled together like the lovesick adults that they were.

"But you know, Ma-chan, ever since Kashima-san entered your life, it seems your mood has gotten better," his mom said after drinking from her glass, "we just want to see you shining again."

"But 'kaa-san," it came out a little whinier than he hoped, "can't you see? _She's my intern._ "

Mrs. Hori rolled her eyes in disbelief. "So? Your dad used to be one of my students."

His dad nodded in agreement. "Her _best_ student in college, too." He added in a matter-of-fact tone.

"And she seems like a very pleasant kid. What do you think?" His mom asked, smiling that naughty smile of hers.

Masayuki stole a quick glance at Yuu who was busy entertaining her newfound acquaintances on the dining area. "Well, she is. She's very spectacular, too," he answered honestly. " _But she's still in college, in case you haven't noticed._ "

Both his parents snorted. "Not anymore in a few months time." His mother reminded him.

"Yeah. It's like when I told your mom before graduation that I will definitely come back for her after exiting college and landing my first job," his dad said, closing his eyes and sighing happily, "ah, the good old days."

"Yeah, you were _so_ cute, then. What happened to you now?"

Masayuki watched on as his parents were suddenly transported to their own lovely world surrounded by a field of diasies and red roses and insert all sparkly, lovey elements to complete the scene. He almost wanted to leave the room and spend the rest of the day in his room to brood. The young man sighed.

"Just please, _promise me_ , you won't set me up with Kashima."

"Oh, we won't. We know how much you hate that!"

But the sound of her mother's chortle and the smirk in his father's lips told him otherwise.

* * *

The party ended by early evening. The whole family plus Yuu were outside the gate to see the guests off. Yuu exchanged contact details with the whole group, and was even more energetic and enthusiastic in saying her goodbyes than Mitsue did with his friends. In the middle of waving like tomorrow wasn't coming, Masayuki grabbed her arm and looked (glared) at his parents.

"I'm bringing her home," he stated, his eyes warning his folks to wipe the stupid grin off their faces then turning to face Yuu. "Let's get going."

The pair walked in companionable silence as they passed by the quiet streets leading to the Kashima household. In the many times he had walked her home, Masayuki had already memorized all the possible routes leading to their house so that wherever their feet (or Yuu's spontaneity) took them, he'd be sure to bring her home without much trouble.

"Your family's really cute," Yuu spoke, disrupting the quiet, "just like you—"

"I swear Kashima, if it's about my height again I'll send you flying to your room this instant."

"But you always say that without actually doing it."

The young man smirked mischieviously. "Do you want me to follow through, then?"

The young lady flashed her equally devious smirk. "Can you?"

But he only flicked her forehead. Yuu pouted as Masayuki smirked. _'She's really adorable. Someone punch me.'_

"Are you really going to take me home at this hour, sensei?" Yuu asked, her voice sounding a little disappointed, something he didn't miss (of course, he wouldn't miss that).

"After all the talking you did earlier, you still have energy to spare? I'm impressed." He jibed. "Well, what do you want to do?"

Yuu mused for a while. "I don't really know; I just don't feel like going home yet since my parents won't be home until 10, and Yuuki's still out with her friends. I've no one to spend time with at home at the moment." She sighed.

"What about your friends?"

"Chiyo-chan has her volunteer work, and Yuzuki's on vacation with her family. Mikoshiba, too. I've no one to play with, as you can see."

Masayuki frowned. "Too bad for you then."

Yuu stopped in front of him, blocking his path. "That's it? You're not gonna offer me your company or something?"

The young man smiled playfully. "Do you want me to?" He didn't miss the slight tint on her cheeks when his message registered to her. Yuu stuttered and her eyes darted everywhere but on his. He found that a flustered Yuu was a splendid sight. He lightly chuckled. "Are you up for a little trek?"

Her face visibly lightened. "Trek? Where?"

* * *

Masayuki led them to a busy park overlooking a part of the city. He pointed at an empty concrete bench where the young lady skipped towards and waited for him to sit beside her.

"You come here often?" she asked once he was seated beside her.

He only nodded as he looked at the view before them. A few stars have managed to shine on the early evening sky despite the lights coming from the busy city they both resided in. From where they were, they could see an endless sea of roofs of houses and the some of the establishments they normally passed by when they went to work. Masayuki found this sight oddly calming, as if he wasn't part of the city and its hectic hustle and bustle.

"I go here when I need to unwind," he mumbled as he kept his eyes on the view and inhaled some air. "It's really quiet here since people rarely go to this place."

They sit in silence, both basking in the tranquility embracing them.

"You're really awfully quiet, Hori-sensei, aren't you?"

"No. You're just awfully talkative, Kashima."

The young girl only scoffed. "Hey, sensei! Fast or slow?"

An eyebrow rose s he glanced at his companion. "What does that even stand for?"

"Just choose between the two. My friends and I call it no context. No explanations, no context at all," she winked after she was done explaining, "so, sensei, fast or slow?"

He pondered for a while. "Slow."

"Fast," she quipped. "Planned or spontaneous?"

"Planned."

Yuu pouted. "Spontaneous."

"Of course, Kashima; that's your thing." He agreed.

"Hmm... tissue or bidet?"

" _What the hell_ , Kashima!"

She laughed. "Okay, fine. Mild or wild?"

"Wild."

"Mild," she added quickly. "Your turn!"

Masayuki rolled his eyes, but decided to humour her anyway. "Sunrise or sunset?"

"I like both!"

"I thought you said choose one?"

"Okay, fine! Sunset."

"Sunrise," he paused. "Museum or library?"

The young lady smiled. "Museum!"

"Same here. Sweet or spicy?"

"What do you think, Hori-sensei?" Yuu asked as she batted her eyelashes prettily. "It's pretty obvious."

He snickered. "Spicy for me," he muttered. "I'm running out of things to ask."

Yuu raised her hand. "Arms or legs?"

"Legs," Masayuki replied without much thought.

She wiggled her eyebrows as she started to stretch her legs in front of him. "Want to stare at mine, then, sensei? I've been told I have pretty legs, but no tou—ow!" She was interrupted by a pinch on her cheek.

"Don't get so confident, young lady." He said, but without a hint of venom in his tone.

The young lady rubbed her now red cheek. "Hmm... short or long?"

" _What are you implying, Kashima?_ "

"Short or long?"

The young man deadpanned. "...Short."

Yuu giggled. "Just like you," but this time, she was successful at evading the punch thrown her way. "Short. Cat or dog?"

"Cat."

"Aw, but dogs are fun, too."

He chuckled. "Dogs remind me so much of you, strangely."

She scooted closer to him, a little too close for comfort. "Is it because I'm cute?"

He snorted. "You need constant attention just like a dog."

"Then what kind of a dog am I?"

Masayuki used this time to stare at her— _and totally not get distracted by her pretty eyes and that really cute grin—_ without any hint of expression in his face. "A pug."

Yuu's eyes widened first, then her face scrunched to a frown. This caused him to chuckle lightly, clearly amused to see her response.

"What?" he quickly spoke, "pugs are so ugly, they become so cute."

Her frown deepened. " _You think I'm ugly?_ "

He shook his head quickly in defense. "No! If you're ugly, then what about us, the rest of the world? Abominations to humankind? Monsters? You're _not_ ugly, Kashima." And he said this without realizing a beat earlier that he was indirectly telling her he thought she was the most perfect human being ever born in this planet.

Yuu's face brightened, and the beam she wore had mirth in it, as if she discovered something. "So... you must think I'm pretty?"

Masayuki wouldn't let her know it almost made him shiver, but chose to brush it off and put up a show of confident air. So he smirked and leaned closer. "Not even close."

"Then how do you find me, Hori-sensei?"

Masayuki was dumbfounded by the rawness in Yuu's query, but was lucky enough to be quick in pulling himself together.

He had always thought she was a breath of fresh air, a Godsent, the most spectacular woman he had ever come across in his short life. Yuu Kashima was everything he didn't expect to stumble upon, with all honesty. She was like some _manga_ character retrieved straight from the page, every person's dream character—unbelievable. Even if he had gotten to know her in the two months they've worked closely, Masayuki still had to wrap his head around the existence of Yuu Kashima. That if he had to find a word that encompassed everything he thought about the young lady, he would say she was...

"Amazing," he managed to breathe out, "I think you're amazing, Kashima."

 _'I hope you sleep easy tonight, Masayuki Hori.'_ He told himself.

Masayuki watched as Yuu's countenance slowly fell before his eyes until she was reduced to a bumbling, bashful kid. Masayuki had to resist wrapping his arms around her to a hug until her embarrassment subsided. He settled for peering closer to her.

"Kashima?" he called her, shaking her shoulders lightly as he placed both hands on her shoulders.

He heard mumble something unintelligibly before she lifted her head and faced him. "I'm okay now." She calmly declared.

The young man flashed her an I-don't-believe-you look, but decided to let it pass. "Do you want me to bring you home now? Yuuki's probably there already."

She nodded quietly. Masayuki stood up and offered his hand to the young lady, which she took without much hesitation, and allowed herself to be pulled to her feet by the young man. He let go of her hand and nodded to the direction they were heading, and they were off to her house once more.

* * *

They reached the familiar street leading to the Kashima household. Masayuki occasionally stole glances at Yuu and spotted the tiny, tiny smile on her face despite the pensive expression she donned. _'She's both predictable and unpredictable, it's almost silly and frustrating,'_ he thought as an amused smile once again escaped his lips.

"Yup, my sister's there already," she suddenly said, disrupting his pondering. He looked up and saw that the lights in the living room were switched on.

"Let's not keep her waiting, then." He lightly dragged her by the arm and sped up their pace.

Masayuki dutifully brought her to the fate and waited for her to unlock it. When she was done fumbling with the keys and opening the gate, Yuu turned to him, grinning.

"I really enjoyed today, Hori-sensei. Please tell Mitsue, thank you for inviting me over, and happy birthday again." She paused. "Thank you, too, Hori-sensei."

Before she stepped inside, the young man reached for her shoulder, stopping her, and successfully turning her round to face him again. He hoped he was wearing the best smile he could muster at the moment.

"What I said earlier at the park... I really think you're amazing, Kashima." Then he let go of her shoulder and turned round to start walking. He allowed a satisfied grin to grace his face. "Thank you for today, too."

He hadn't walked that far from Yuu's house when his phone started ringing. He fished for it inside his pocket, wondering if his parents were looking for him right now, but was confused to see Yuu's name flashing on the screen. He swiped it once to receive the call.

"Kashima?"

There was a short pause from the other line before a cheerful soprano reached his ear. "I... I also think you're amazing, Hori-sensei!" Yuu said hurriedly that he almost didn't catch that.

He turned round, for some strange reason, then she spotted the young lady looking out her bedroom window and waving him goodbye. He grinned and waved back.

"You're _definitely_ screwed, Masayuki." he whispered as he continued his journey back home, smiling to himself. He didn't mind being screwed this time, though.

* * *

P.S. Line breaks are amazing. Why haven't I been using them?


	12. The Aftermath

**Chapter Twelve: The Aftermath**

She didn't even greet her sister who was lounging by the couch and watching her favourite evening show. Yuu hurriedly ran upstairs to her room once inside their house to recollect herself as her heart raced wildly in her chest and her cheeks rivaled the shade of apples. She slammed her bedroom door close and leaned on it, telling herself to calm down.

 _'Hori-sensei just told me in my face that I'm amazing,'_ she repeated in her head until it sank deep. _"_ Hori-sensei just told me I'm amazing." She repeated, this time verbally, to remind herself of what just happened.

She snapped from her daze just in time to rush to her window and still catch a glimpse of her beloved mentor. Masayuki hadn't gone far. The young lady fished for her phone inside her pocket and started dialing his number (she had his number ingrained in her memory, of course), and the line rang.

"Kashima?"

 _'Oh my gosh, he answered almost immediately?'_ She swallowed as she struggled to open her bedroom window with just one hand.

Now that it her mentor had admitted what he thought about her, Yuu pondered if she'd also come clean at last. If his confession, or whatever that was, wasn't an anchor to keep the boat from sailing further, then all of those words were just pretty, and nothing more. So the young lady gathered all the strength and confidence she needed this instant, hoping it wouldn't come out convoluted and confuse Masayuki. The last thing she wanted right now was to confuse him.

"I," she finally cracked, "I also think you're amazing, Hori-sensei!"

It came out a little hastier than intended, but she was pretty damn sure he heard every single word.

The young lady saw him turn around and when he was about to look up to where she was, Yuu waved her free arm, grinning when their eyes finally met. She didn't leave the window until he wasn't in sight anymore. She climbed on her bed after closing the window and just spent a good minute listening to the wild thumping in her chest. She closed her eyes and tried to do deep breathing to still herself.

Yuu dialed Chiyo's number as soon as her nerves subsided.

"Hello, Kashima-kun!" Chiyo's high pitched voice reached her ear. "Do you need anything?"

"Chiyo-chan, can I come over your place tonight?"

"S-Sure," the petite lady replied, tone suddenly laced with worry. "Are you alright, Kashima-kun?"

Yuu sighed and smiled. "I am. I just need to sort some things out, and I think I need someone to talk to." She told her in assurance as she stood up and began preparing for the impromptu sleepover. "I'll see you in a while, 'kay? Bye, Chiyo-chan!"

* * *

"Chiyo-chan," Yuu called out from outside her bedroom door, "I'm here. Your dad let me in."

The door opened, revealing Chiyo clad in her sleepwear. "Hi, Kashima-kun!" she greeted and motioned the lady to come in, opening the door wider and extending her arm towards the room.

The taller girl placed her bag on the edge of her friend's bed and sat on the soft piece of furniture. "I already told my parents that I'm sleeping over here so no worries about that. Thanks for accommodating me, Chiyo-chan!" She flashed a princely grin, which of course she knew wouldn't have any effect on her tiny friend unless she was the guy she really, really liked.

Chiyo dismissed it with a wave of her hand and proceeded to sit across her friend. "It's okay, Kashima-kun; you sounded really troubled when you called me. What happened?"

Yuu pouted as she hugged the tiny girl closer, sighing on her shoulder as she willed her eyes not to start watering now because she was still overwhelmed. "I was with Hori-sensei earlier," she began.

Chiyo instinctively wrapped her arms around her friend's back and patted it lightly. "Did something happen?"

"Well, his brother invited me over to their place for his birthday, so I celebrated it with them and some of his friends. When the party's over, Hori-sensei offered to walk me home... like always."

"Okay?" the young lady prodded, "then what?"

Yuu's hold tightened as she pouted. "He didn't bring me home yet because I still didn't want to go, so he brought me to this quiet park and we spent some time alone together."

"He actually humoured you?" There was a tinge of surprise in Chiyo's tone.

She nodded into Chiyo's shoulder. "Then we played No Context."

The tiny girl giggled as her pats on the back were reduced to gentle, comforting strokes. "So did you find anything interesting about him, then?"

A tiny giggle escaped Yuu's lips. "He said he likes legs, Chiyo-chan."

"Well, you got that covered," Chiyo remarked, "but what exactly is bothering you right now that you had to sleepover at my room?"

Yuu finally released her friend from her grasp, her eyes finding her lap more interesting to look at, as another wave of shyness hit her. "Chiyo-chan," she paused and bit her lip, pouting, "Hori-sensei told me he thinks I'm amazing."

Chiyo shot her a confused look. "Wait, shouldn't you be happy about it and not... I don't know, troubled?"

The young lady sighed and closed her eyes. "I'm happy, of course; the happiest I've ever been. It's just... I guess, it's just something," Yuu paused to find the appropriate word to describe this situation and smirked when her head supplied it. "New."

Curiosity and confusion painted the face of Chiyo. "I'm sorry, what?"

Yuu rolled her eyes and clutched Chiyo's tiny shoulders. "I know I've liked others before, and I've had super crushes even before Hori-sensei, but this is the first time that it's actually reciprocated or something!"

" _Oh_ ," her friend drawled, smiling awkwardly. "Now that you said it, you're right. It's the first time you like someone who likes you back just as much!" Chiyo's purple eyes lit up with cheer. "I'm so happy for you, Kashima-kun!"

Said young lady's face lit up as well as she beamed. "To think Hori-sensei thinks I'm amazing!" a dreamy sigh slipped out of her mouth. "Hori-sensei is amazing as well."

A fit of giggles and chuckles and congratulations ensued, then the mood immediately crashed when Chiyo's face fell at a sudden realization.

"You're pretty lucky Hori-sensei notices you," she mumbled, "unlike me, who still remains a fellow intern in the eyes of my only type." Chiyo dramatically declared, wiping away an invisible tear from her eye.

Yuu frowned. "Is this the guy you told me about when we talked in the park?"

Chiyo nodded. "How can a person be _so_ dense, like, _oh my goodness I'm here all the time. Please notice me_." She sighed resignedly. "The only thing I'm missing is a sign that points to me."

The young lady patted her friend's shoulder. "Aww, but there are so many guys out there, Chiyo-chan. He's not the only one."

Yuu swore she saw Chiyo glaring at her, right to her very soul, for a few seconds, looking like she was out to kill. How could tiny people (namely Chiyo and Hori-sensei) be capable of such ability? The young lady made a mental note of being careful with her words around Chiyo concerning the guy she'd been eyeing for a while now.

"He's not the only one, yes, but _he's the only one_." the petite girl hissed, it was almost silly. And Yuu would've laughed if her friend didn't seem so serious right now.

As if a switch was turned off, Chiyo was back to being her cute self once more. "Nozaki-kun is really a brick when it comes to my feelings, but at least we're friends now. I even get to help him with some freelance work sometimes, and we often spend some time together after work, so all is well, I guess?"

Yuu offered her friend a sympathetic smile. "Don't worry; you'll get your chance, Chiyo-chan."

"Well, he does bring me lunch every now and then, but only because he cooked too much." The young lady sighed. "And I can't even cook to save my life!"

"Aww, but that's sweet," Yuu gushed. "Oh yeah, how does this Nozaki guy look like?"

Chiyo reached for her phone excitedly, grabbing it from her desk and smiled as Yuu assumed she searched for her gallery. "Here!" she announced, beaming as she held out her phone for Yuu to see.

The young lady took a while to study the tall, poker-faced boy who seemed to have taken over the whole screen as the cute Chiyo-chan was smiling by the corner of the photo, almost disappearing in the frame because of the very evident height difference between them. She giggled as she imagined how the pair even managed to make the shot work.

"He isn't bad looking, but he's not my type," she said as she returned her friend's phone.

"Type?" the petite lady's nose crinkled. "You know, Kashima-kun, I never really bothered asking if you have a type considering your, uh, flirty nature." Chiyo scratched her chin. "Well, do you have any?"

Yuu's eyes wandered as she mused about her type. "Hmm, I really think someone like Hori-sensei is great. He's hardworking, generous, reliable, and his strength is really something else. Did you know he carried me home once, piggy back style, with little effort considering I'm taller than him?" the young lady continued to ramble, "As someone who always does the carrying, I can say that it feels nice to be carried sometimes, even only for a while." Her eyes shone dreamily. "Have you ever been carried, Chiyo-chan?"

Chiyo just joined her in her dreamy state, sighing. "Yeah. I was inside the supplies room when Nozaki happened to pass by and saw me struggling to reach the set of crayons I was going to let my students use. But instead of getting it himself, he lifted me until the boxes were on my eye-level." She giggled. "He could've reached it himself, but who am I to complain?"

"You know, I did something similar to Hori-sensei once. He couldn't reach the top of the board so I also lifted him up, but he got angry instead." The young lady laughed at the memory. "That was the day I learned how strong he was."

A disbelieving look marred Chiyo's cute features. "Kashima-kun, you don't just carry someone when they have trouble reaching. Of course he'd get angry! You could've offered some alternative or something."

"But I didn't want to offend him."

"Carrying him is even _more_ offensive."

But Chiyo's advice was only dismissed by Yuu's melodic laughter. "He made things better after, anyway. And he did say sorry! He even rubbed the part where he hit me. Hori-sensei can be pretty strange in his own way, but I guess that's his charm."

"Or we could just be really fond of strange boys," the other girl supplied, mumbling.

They both laid down on the bed and stared at the ceiling for a few minutes, enjoying the calm they shared after a whirlwind of stories and feelings and girl talk. Come to think of it, Yuu hardly had girl talks herself since she usually talked to Mikoto about things. If only he had been here, she would probably be in his room instead, gushing like an idiot as he multitasked between winning the girls over from his game and listening to her babble about earlier's happening. Sometimes, Yuu thought, girl talks could really be fun.

She placed a hand on her chest and exhaled. "The swelling feeling's back again," she whispered to no one in particular, "but it's a little stronger this time."

Chiyo shifted her head to face her friend. "Maybe because you found out that the guy you like actually likes you back?"

"Perhaps?"

Their conversation was suddenly interrupted by the message alert tone of Yuu's phone. She fumbled for it inside her pocket and read on the screen that Masayuki had sent her a message.

"What did he say?" the petite girl excitedly asked, eyes almost as wide as saucers.

Yuu pressed his name and read his message.

" _I just got home. I told Mitsue what you asked me to, and my parents wanted you to know that they're glad they finally met you. I had a great time, too."_

Her head shot to her left in a flash, a determined look plastered on her face. "Chiyo-chan, how do I reply to his message?"

"Eh? But aren't you supposed to be good with those things? I mean, there _is_ a reason why a lot of students are enamoured by you, Kashima-kun."

"But this isn't _just_ a person; this is Hori-sensei. He'd see past those horsecrap."

Chiyo rolled her eyes. "Wow, for something you call horsecrap, the lines you throw to your fans are pretty grand."

Yuu tugged on her friend's sleeve to get her attention again. "What do I tell him? Do I even reply?"

"I don't know? Tell him you had a great time, too, and that you're glad he got home safe?"

"I guess," the taller girl agreed as she proceeded typing her response. "I'm also telling him I'm sleeping over your place."

"I don't think that's necessary, but sure, whatever helps you sleep soundly."

 _Ding._

"So mean," Yuu muttered, frowning.

"Why?"

"He told me not to give you an awful time. I'm not giving you an awful time, am I?"

Chiyo shook her head. "Maybe that's his way of telling you to take care or something?"

"Wow, Chiyo-chan! How can you be so good in reading between the lines?"

"Told you I've read enough shoujo _manga_."

"Oh, he texted again!" Yuu shot up from the bed, shock painted on her face. "His parents wanted to know if I could join them on their annual winter break retreat in the mountains!"

Chiyo did the same as she looked over her friend's shoulder. "Oh my gosh, Kashima-kun! You know what it means when its the family members who are inviting you to join family excursions? Oh my gosh, Kashima-kun! _They like you!_ " she enthused, her words almost unintelligible due to the rush.

Yuu's head snapped to look at Chiyo. "Really? Then does that mean I _may_ have a chance with Hori-sensei?"

The girl only shrugged her shoulder. "Probably?"

The noncommittal response from her friend didn't seem to register as Yuu punched the air in triumph (for what?). "Think of all the cute babies we can make and call our kids as we build a family!"

Chiyo held her hands up, casting a suspicious look towards her friend. "Think about getting him to be your boyfriend first."


	13. Happy Holidays Sort Of (Part 1)

Quick update this time because it'll be awkward to upload this after the holidays passed. Haha.

To the guest who reviewed the latest chapter, thank you for the kind words! :D Receiving reviews always make my day. And for those who still follow this story, thank you so, so much for sticking. I've been horrible with updates for a time, I'm really sorry. Thank you for still finding this story interesting! :D

For winter break, our favourite pair goes to... well, just read on, and tell me what you think! :D

* * *

 **Chapter Thirteen: Happy Holidays. Sort Of (Part 1)**

"Hey, Kashima," Masayuki greeted as soon as Yuu picked up from the other line, "we're outside now."

Mr. Hori turned off the engine of the van as he and his son climbed out of the vehicle to wait for the Kashima siblings. They agreed to pick up the two during the ungodly hours of morning so they could make it by the foot of the mountain by daylight.

Masayuki's parents insisted Yuu to tag along with the family retreat, and even extended the invitation to her younger sister, who would be home alone during the holidays since both their parents were still on their business trips. They'd be staying in the usual inn that the family frequented each time they visited the place. With all honesty, Masayuki wasn't so sure it'd be a good idea to bring Yuu with them. For one, it was some sort of family tradition that they'd established since he and Mitsue were still kids, and two, why would they bring _someone else_ during a family trip _unless_ that someone was...

If Masayuki could only fling his parents to the next century without being a disrespectful son, he would've done so at the realization of this whole, 'please invite your teaching assistant to our family trip this winter' plan.

The gate opened, revealing two tall ladies clad in their oversized coats, necks wrapped in knitted scarves, and hauling their change of clothes for the three days, two nights trip. Masayuki immediately went to Yuu's aid as his dad greeted the two girls and helped Yuuki with her stuff. Mitsue opened the back door of the van from the inside, smiling as the two ladies came to his view.

"Good morning, 'tou-san!" Yuu greeted and beamed as both father and son placed their backpacks at the back of the van. Masayuki tried to ignore to the nonchalance in her tone, and the fact that she had the gall to address someone she just met recently and interacted with the second time somewhat informally.

Actually, Masayuki couldn't really help but notice how casual Yuu was with the rest of his family, almost as if they were childhood friends or something more. His parents and Mitsue certainly didn't seem to mind.

"Thank you for accommodating us," the older sister bowed to Mr. Hori. "By the way, this is my younger sister, Yuuki!" she introduced, holding out a hand in the direction where her sister stood.

Said young girl bowed in greeting and smiled slightly. "Thank you for inviting me, too, Hori-san."

Mr. Hori laughed heartily and waved his hand. "No need to be so formal, Yuuki-san! The more, the merrier, anyway!" he said, grinning. "And this is a good way to get to know the in-laws, if you know what I mean."

The young girl chuckled as both Yuu and Masayuki mirrored each other's mortified looks.

"Oh, sir! I like the way you think!" Yuuki seconded.

Normally, the young man would speak on his defense, but he just proceeded loading Yuu's backpack in the van. Yuu only released a forced chuckle.

The group was now on the road again, each member doing various activities to kill time; Mitsue was fast asleep at the back of the van where the bags were, Yuuki contented herself with the book she brought with her for the duration of the trip, ears plugged with her earphones, the parents were busy navigating the road and checking how the traffic was, while Yuu and Masayuki enjoyed the passing view of wide, green fields from the window.

"Oh, look! Another herd of goats!" the young lady said excitedly, pointing out the window as she leaned a little closer to Masayuki to get a better view. "Nature's pretty amazing, huh?"

"You mean the countryside is amazing." the young man mumbled as he trailed his eyes to where she was pointing, a fond smile on his face. "We always pass this road yearly. Mitsue and I would sometimes sit on opposite sides of the car and try to find as many herd of goats or cows on the way when we were kids. The one who has more counts than the other gets to choose the channel for the night."

Yuu's face lit up as she shifted on her seat to sit properly. "How about we do it now?" she suggested, tugging the sleeve of his coat. "Winner gets to order the loser around?"

The fond smile on Masayuki's face never left even as she flicked her on the forehead. "We're not kids anymore, Kashima."

Yuu pouted, a gesture he found adorable that he reached his hand out to ruffle her hair affectionately. He didn't miss the blush on the young lady's cheeks before she turned away from him to look out the other window. Masayuki was actually secretly enjoying this.

The group arrived at the foot of the mountain after a two-hour drive. Mr. Hori parked their van at the parking lot situated near the trail's entrance. There was about a thirty minute trek before reaching the inn that Mrs. Hori had reserved for them a few days ago, which didn't spell much problem for them since the trail wasn't muddy or too slippery for them to walk on. Masayuki ignored the many times her hand brushed against his during the hike (even so, he managed to count them all— _twelve flipping times_ ).

Masayuki and his brother shared their own room. Their parents' quarters were just beside them (heaven forbid his parents had "plans"tonight), while the Kashima siblings settled on the room across theirs. The siblings arranged their stuff inside the closet as soon as they entered the place to get that out of the many things they needed to do during this trip.

"Machan-nii-chan, 'kaa-san told me we can head anywhere today as long as we all eat dinner together." Mitsue informed his brother as he looked at his phone while they both watched an old movie on replay. "Now's your chance to make cheesy memories with Kashima-senpai! Don't worry, I won't tag along."

The older sibling hit his brother's head with the throw pillow within his reach even before the boy could finish waggling his eyebrows. "I guess I'll be off then _but not_ to make cheesy memories, like you suggested." Masayuki said as he stood up from lying down on the floor.

"So you're really inviting, Kashima-senpai on your little trip today?" He heard his brother asked as he laced his boots by the door. "Don't do anything silly while you're gone," and then he snickered, like the naughty little boy that he was.

Masayuki slid the door open before looking at his brother and frowning. "Why does it matter so much to you?"

He didn't catch his brother's snort and smirk as he clicked his tongue when he heard him knocking from across their room.

"Oh, Machan-nii-chan." Mitsue whispered to no one in particular as he flipped the channels on TV.

His plan was to tour the siblings around the area where a small town with small establishments sat in the middle part of the mountain, a twenty minute walk from the entrance of the inn. However, Yuuki and his mom headed for the baths for some tranquil and relaxing atmosphere so he was left with just his teaching assistant. He briefly wondered if Mitsue prayed so hard for this to happen, and if he did, he'd pray the same thing happen to him when time would come. Don't get him wrong, though; it wasn't that he disliked his moments with Yuu (he liked it _a lot_ ). He just found it odd that even the universe seemed to conspiring for him.

Or it could just be his parents working their flipping magic behind his back. He groaned.

"What's the matter, Hori-sensei?" his companion asked, concern laced in her tone.

"Oh, nothing. Don't mind me," he quickly dismissed. He should really stop thinking too much when he was around someone.

The way Yuu's face brightened, her eyes glittered, and her lips beamed was so worth the quiet twenty minute walk to town. Masayuki watched as Yuu first laid her eyes on the busy and hustling plaza that greeted the guests first. She looked so radiant, almost shining, if that was even possible, that he couldn't help but smirk in amusement. The stalls that were laid out along the plaza were all adorned with Christmas decorations ranging from Christmas balls, garlands, and even the occasional appearance of different-sized Santa Claus figures. The scent of chicken and meat being grilled and smoke permeated the air, and the aroma got stronger as the pair made their way in the middle of the place. Yuu's eyes didn't know where it should look first: the trinket store right smack in the middle of the place, the cafe near the entrance of the town, or the many food stalls on one side of the plaza.

So being the gentlemanly host that he was, he thought of a system for them to explore the place without much trouble. Masayuki led her first to the trinket stores, knowing her penchant for cutesy stuff. She didn't buy much, but they would occasionally stop each time she would ask him if they could take a closer look on what the different stalls were selling. A small smile escaped his lips as he took in the sight of Yuu enjoying her surroundings like a child out on her favourite amusement park.

Masayuki felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He fished it out and saw that his dad had texted him. _"Mit-chan told me you went to that small town with Kashima,"_ the message began. The young man scowled. _"Nice, son! Now while you're out on a date there, why don't you buy all the ingredients we need for sukiyaki tonight? Minako managed to rope the kitchen personnel to let us cook sukiyaki for dinner at the inn. Thanks, son."_

" _Okay, otou-san."_ He replied. _"And for the record, we're not on a date. Just thought I'd let you know."_

The young man tugged the sleeve of Yuu's coat to grab her attention. "Hey, Kashima, let's go to the marketplace to buy some ingredients for _sukiyaki_ ; I think mom managed to work her magic with the kitchen staff again."

"Wow, _sukiyaki_ for dinner! Let's go to that marketplace so we can head back early!"

Masayuki was glad with the deals he managed to score while ingredients shopping. They got everything that they needed, a paper bag each person, and they were now on their way out of the busy marketplace. Yuu's giggle reached his ears, making him glance to her direction.

"What's so amusing this time?" he asked. If his memory was right, it was the fourth time he heard her giggle from behind him while they were shopping.

Yuu flashed a small smile. "I didn't really expect you'd be so good with market deals. I guess I learned something new today."

"I used to do grocery shopping with 'kaa-san back in middle school so I managed to pick up some skills doing so." He shared, smirking.

They decided to take a short break before going back to the inn; after all, walking around the plaza and absorbing the energy of the place could be pretty tiring, especially since they haven't rested as much since they got here this morning. Masayuki brought her to the cafe he frequented each time the family went to this place. They sat outside the cafe, at the porch—which was also his usual spot during his cafe visits—enjoying the colourful and busy view as well as the cool wind from the mountains. The glass door of the cafe opened, clinking the bell hung at the entrance.

"Oh, it's you, Hori-san!" a high-pitched greeting startled the pair, causing them to whip their heads to the petite girl, clad in black with her long hair styled in a half-ponytail. "It's nice to see you again!" she continued as she readied the menu cards she was holding while ambling to their direction. The young lady stopped at the sight of Yuu and smiled warmly at her before looking at him. "And I see you brought with you a pretty lady!"

The young man smiled cordially. "It's nice to see you again, Asuza-san. I trust that you still remember my usual order?"

The waitress grinned and nodded. She changed her attention to Yuu as she handed one of the menu cards she was holding. "As for you, miss, just choose any that you fancy in our list of specialties, and you can even have it prepared the way you want it, just like Hori-san here," she offered, pointing her thumb to the young man. "Free of charge."

The young lady took the menu and skimmed the list. "Hori-sensei, what do you recommend?" she asked without looking up from reading.

Masayuki faced the waitress, smiling. "Let her try the one with milk and honey; she'll probably like that."

Asuza proceeded to write down their orders and beamed at the pair. "Your orders will be ready in 10!" she told them, winking at the direction of the young man.

When it was just the two of them at the porch, Masayuki focused his attention back to Yuu and saw her frowning. He casted her a confused look. "What's wrong?"

The young lady looked anywhere but his face as she shook her head. "I'm just tired. That's all." Masayuki could tell that she was only forcing her smile. "Don't mind me, Hori-sensei."

Even so, the young man could sense that something was amiss. It seemed to him that even if he tried to pry what was going in Yuu's mind at the moment, the lady wouldn't speak so he decided to let it go this time, and hope she'd tell him on their way back to the inn. In the meantime, as their orders arrived with two complimentary doughnuts courtesy of Asuza, Masayuki updated his life with his friend. Yuu didn't seem to be in a talkative mood, too. With every glimpse he managed to sneak in, the young lady picked on her food, frowned more often, and was a little fidgety on her seat. Masayuki hunched that perhaps it was time for them to go.

After paying the bills and saying his goodbye to Asuza and his friend's grandfather (the owner of the cafe), the pair walked back to the inn, silence thick and heavy between them. Masayuki could almost taste and see the tension enveloping them. Unless his companion started speaking, they would remain awkward for the rest of the trip, which meant he'd be making tons of explaining to his family and Yuuki. That'd be too troublesome, he realized as he let out an exasperated sigh. Somebody had to crush this before it crushed them.

"Okay, Kashima. I know something's up." He stated firmly, bracing himself for the confrontation. "You've been on the edge since we were at the cafe. I was sitting in front of you the whole time, after all."

He only got a harrumph from Yuu. He sighed for the second time as he fought the urge to yell at her. The young man secured his grip on the paper bag he was holding and swiftly moved in front of the young lady to block her path. When their eyes locked gazes—heated against concerned—he gripped his free hand on her arm, scrunching the cloth.

"For the love of God, Kashima. _Speak_." He commanded, tone firm and features stern. He supposed he would've looked more intimidating if his neck wasn't craned up because of his height.

But the young woman only stared at her feet, still wearing the frown she'd be sporting since they left the town. If his eyes weren't tricking him, he could see a trace of pink staining her cheeks. What? Was she embarrassed of something? This was confusing him even more.

His clasp tightened on her arm, but not enough to cause a bruise. "Look, Kashima; I can see that you're upset, but if you're not gonna talk, then I won't be able to do anything. So I might as well leave you here as well, so that you can chill until you're done sulking." He scolded as he grabbed the other bag from her hold, but her grip tightened.

"Kashima, stop acting like a kid!" he reprimanded as he continued tugging the bag away from her.

Yuu finally looked up, glaring. This caught Masayuki very much off-guard, feeling her stare bore through his skin, down to the recesses of his soul. Ironically, she didn't seem mad. Annoyed, perhaps? But whatever her cold gaze meant, he knew for sure that this spelled trouble, and he wasn't liking this one bit.

"K-Kashima?"

Her cold look was suddenly replaced with the upset frown he was accustomed to normally. "What's the deal with the girl at the cafe earlier?" she finally spoke, though it came off more as a whine than an angry query.

"What are you talking about?" Masayuki's eyes widened in shock.

The young lady narrowed her eyes. " _She was flirting with you, Hori-sensei, and you seem pretty okay with it._ "

At this, Masayuki fought the laughter bubbling in his chest when he caught on what she was trying to imply. "What—no! She's not flirting at all!" he enthused, fighting the amused smirk threatening to carve itself on his lips.

"She _winked_ at you, in case you missed it."

He allowed himself to scoff at least. "I saw that, but Asuza-san's really like that. We've... strangely become friends during one of our family trips here. That's all."

Yuu shot him a suspicious look. "How does one end up strangely befriending someone? Care to enlighten me, sensei?" the young man didn't miss the challenge in her tone.

So he did enlighten Yuu about his strange friendship with the cafe waitress. He told her about being rejected by her girlfriend for two years, before they both graduated college, only a month short of December. He told her about how much he berated himself for not being a good enough boyfriend and for reasons he only came up with to cope up with not knowing why things turned sour between them. He told him how he walked aimlessly to the small town one lazy afternoon and spent about an hour at the same cafe they went to awhile ago, and how Asuza found him looking so pathetic with his downcast face and listless disposition, so the petite lady decided to give him the same drink he recommended to Yuu, and even gave it to him without charges because apparently, he looked _that_ pathetic. Without much thinking, Masayuki shared his first heartbreak to the willing waitress, and she even offered him encouraging words and a curt hug after. Since then, they'd exchanged emails and have constantly conversed from then until now.

"And if it helps you feel better, Asuza-san's already engaged," he added quickly.

Yuu wasn't pouting anymore by the end of the story. Masayuki allowed himself to smile fondly. "Are you jealous, Kashima?"

Yuu shot him a look of a cornered kid by her parent. "I-I wasn't!"

He only snorted at her insistence and shook his head.

"Okay, fine! I was, until I heard the full story." The young woman tried to hide her face behind the paper bag she was holding. "I bet you probably think I'm some dumb, jealous girl now."

Masayuki rolled his eyes. "What makes you think that? Don't we all get jealous at some point in our lives?"

Yuu lifted her head up from hiding and looked at him. "So does that mean you've been jealous, too, sensei?"

He nodded. "A lot more times than I'm willing to admit."

"Oh. So you do get jealous, too, huh?"

"What makes you think I don't?"

The young woman finally broke into a smile. "Well, you kind of give this cool vibe that says you're too mature for jealousy."

"Whatever, Kashima," he huffed. "I'm actually surprised that you, of all people, would get jealous. I mean, you're pretty sure of yourself."

"Only when I feel overshadowed," she admitted, almost whispering.

"Well, you can't have it all, Kashima."

She snorted. "Of course you can; you just don't try har—sensei!"

The young man had playfully pinched her nose, a smug smirk on his face. He only let go when the tip had become pink from his touch.

"We better hurry before the ingredients go to waste." He told her as he dragged her by the arm and led the way.

* * *

Part 2 will be uploaded within three days.


	14. Happy Holidays Sort Of (Part 2)

Hey! :D I did say I was gonna upload the second part in three days, so here we are! Let me tell you, this was probably one of the chapters that I found quite hard to write because _omg fluff_ , but I like this better than the original flow that I had in mind, when I was writing down the outline for this chapter.

Family fun with the Horis continues! :D

* * *

 **Chapter Fourteen: Happy Holidays. Sort Of (Part 2)**

Christmas eve dinner went swimmingly with everyone's tummies filled. Yuu patted her belly, a satisfied smile on her face, as she leaned on the wall behind her. Her beloved mentor sat adjacent to her, drinking a cup of hot tea after their scrumptious treat.

The inn's mess hall was busier than she expected. And since Christmas even fell on a weekend this time, there were more people on vacation than your usual holidays. The day hadn't even ended yet, but she quickly learned that this inn was quite popular with families or groups of friends who wanted some quiet or a change of scenery during the holidays. She studied her surroundings some more, taking in the aroma of various dishes coming in and out of the kitchen as the hardworking waiters and waitresses dressed in their clean jinbei carried them dutifully to the customers, and eavesdropping to the many interactions her ears could pick up and discriminate: friends teasing each other with silly names, children asking their parents for another serving of dinner, and some of the inn's staff passing around the orders to the kitchen crew. This was far from her usual Christmas dinner with the family since they mostly spent it in the city, either at home or in a pricey buffet restaurant.

"Hey!" Mitsue chirped from his seat, face shining. "Christmas eve dinner wouldn't be complete without Christmas cakes for dessert!"

Yuu beamed at the sound of dessert. She flipping _loved_ desserts. "You're right!" she piped in excitedly as she looked at the equally excited youngest Hori.

The young lad turned to his parents, smiling. "Otou-san, 'kaa-san, can we head to the usual place where we get our Christmas cakes?"

Mrs. Hori faced her husband who only shrugged.

"I guess we can all use some fresh mountain breeze before we call it a night?" Mr. Hori said, all the while looking at his wife for approval. And she smiled.

Yuuki, Mitsue, and Yuu cheered.

"Okay, Christmas cake eating, it is!" Mr. Hori declared cheerily.

Her holidays this year was quite unusual, but it didn't mean that she wasn't enjoying the moment; it just felt odd not being with her parents, not being at home, and not spending another dinner in the city like usual. She supposed Yuuki was also having the same thoughts as she'd been thinking since earlier, though her younger sister seemed to be enjoying this more than Yuu thought she would. Yuuki was unusually cheery the whole time, and occasionally joined the Hori family banter as if she was the long lost youngest sibling of the two brothers. Seeing her youngest sibling happy made her happy.

"You like Christmas cakes that much?" Masayuki's voice hurled her back to the present.

The young lady turned to look at her mentor. "Huh?"

"You have that goofy smile on your face that you always show whenever you like something so much." The young man commented, pointing to her lips.

She chuckled lightly. "No. I was just thinking of something, sensei. Don't mind me."

The look on Masayuki's face told her that he wanted to know what was running in her head, but he decided to let it slide and focus on the trail ahead.

Masayuki told her that the town looked even prettier in the evening. Small establishments showcased mini-light shows with their Christmas lights, villagers perform small shows for those spending the night in the plaza, and there was even a mini-fireworks show to close the merriment. For a small town, Yuu thought they had a lot going on during this season, but hey, that was tourism for you.

When the group reached the place, Yuu wasn't disappointed; it was exactly how she pictured the town when Masayuki desribed it to her as they trekked. Her eyes didn't know where to start looking for a lot of things went on simultaneously. There was singing and dancing in the middle of the plaza, the stalls have become food stalls selling popular Christmas food, and there were lights everywhere. The busy scene of the small town that evening wonderfully contrasted the starry, dark, and still sky of the mountains.

For some reason she really couldn't pinpoint right now, Yuu was extremely happy and grateful that Masayuki invited her to this trip.

After getting their fill of Christmas cakes, all of them decided to go on separate side trips while the town was still buzzing with life; Mr. and Mrs. Hori decided to leave a little earlier than the rest of the group, Mitsue checked the stalls for fun booths to kill some time, Yuuki looked for unique finds in the souvenir shops, and Yuu and Masayuki were once again left to themselves. She didn't mind; she actually wanted this moment to happen. The Christmas season was for the people you love, right?

 _'Wait, what?'_

The pair spent their time observing the activities within their range of sight, engaged in mundane conversation each time something either of them saw would trigger something that reminded them. Yuu's eyes roamed and managed to land on a young couple, dressed coordinately and flirting with each other as they walked through the plaza, clearly oblivious to the world around them. A nagging curiosity suddenly tugged at her thoughts.

"Hori-sensei, you said you used to have a girlfriend, right?" before she could even process the topic she opened up, the question came out like vomit. She stiffened at the realization, eyes darting quickly to her mentor who seemed unperturbed by where the conversation was heading. "I'm sorry," she whispered bashfully.

Masayuki only smirked and huffed. "Don't be. It's been what? Almost a year since we broke up." He paused to meet her eyes, his features softening. "What do you want to know?"

She let out a relieved sigh before asking. "Well, if you don't mind, how was she like? I want to know."

The young man raised an eyebrow at her query, but answered it gamely. "She was smart, pretty, thoughtful, and before you even ask, she's tiny. Almost as tiny as your friend, Sakura." He supplied.

Her tummy somersaulted in protest and her chest ached somehow. It was that feeling again, which she dared not to call by its appropriate name.

"Do you have a photo of her with you?"

At this, Masayuki shot her a disbelieving look. "Why would I still keep a photo of her with me when she dumped me?"

The young lady shrugged. "I don't know; perhaps there's still some tiny feelings left, and you just want to look at her picture all day because you miss her?"

He snorted. "You think I'm the one to do that?"

She pouted. "Have you no heart, sensei?"

Masayuki stared at her blankly before replying. "Okay, I did keep a photo of her in my phone for three months after we broke up, but seeing that she's not about to reconsider, I had to remove every single thing that reminded me of her. I mean, I have to move on, you know."

Hearing that strangely washed her with comfort inside. A friendly silence fell upon them for a minute before Yuu opened her mouth.

"What's it like to have your heart broken, sensei?"

Masayuki flashed an amused look her way. "You mean you've never had your heart broken? You must be pretty lucky then."

She looked at him, puzzled. "That bad, huh?"

He nodded. "I used to think people were exaggerating about break-ups until I got into one myself. I found it hard to sleep because when I'm by myself, I think about the ways I could've saved the relationship or what I could've done wrong to her, and I found it hard to concentrate because my mind just wanders back to why things went wrong. I was... a mess. I honestly thought I'd fail that semester." The young man let out a heavy breath.

"...Did you ever find out why she called things off with you?"

Masayuki smirked as he nudged her arm with his elbow. "Someone's pretty interested with my past, huh?" at this the young lady felt her cheeks burn, suddenly feeling shy about her hunger for information about the young man. But he seemed to not mind it, thankfully. "To answer your question, I think there's more to what she told me, but in verbatim, she felt I was too conventional for her taste."

"Eh?" Yuu croaked, brows furrowed.

The young man cleared his throat and looked away. "You see, we've been a couple for two years, but she can't wrap it in her head that we've never gone as far as most young couples have; we've never kissed, I only hugged her once, and the closest to contact we've ever had was handholding." He said it so fast, Yuu had to make sure she heard everything right. Masayuki sighed in disbelief. "Apparently, she wanted more."

A disbelieving look was painted on Yuu's face. "That was it? She broke up because you hardly touched her?!" She frowned. "Although to be honest, sensei, I didn't peg you to be _that_ conservative."

He sighed and rolled his eyes. "I'm not exactly prudish, but I prefer not to start anything that could lead to future mishaps. Can't trust your hormones all the time, Kashima." He wagged a pointing finger at her in warning.

 _'She let go of such a reliable man?'_ Yuu reacted in her thoughts. _'I feel so bad for you, but at the same time, thank you so much for you loss, whoever you are.'_

"It also turned out that she was already seeing someone else from our school's soccer team, a few months before she decided to break up. He was taller, and definitely better looking," he snorted derisively, "who am I to compete? It was almost a losing game, if you ask me."

"You gave up just like that?"

"Like I said, Kashima; it was a losing game. And she was pretty adamant about not keeping in touch with me afterwards. I can't text her, I can't even talk to her in school, and she always hung around with her new boyfriend all the time to, I don't know, keep me away or something. Besides, I think they really like each other that much since they're still together from what I heard."

The young lady scrunched her face in confusion. "I don't get it, though; your ex-girlfriend must be out of her head. For one, she traded you for someone who was probably not even half as good as you, and then she let go of someone reliable and responsible, and someone who's _actually_ concerned for her well-being!" she wasn't aware of how impassioned she had suddenly become, "I'm almost not sorry she broke up with you!"

Masayuki dismissed her short speech with a wave of his hand. "Oh, come on, Kashima, you don't have to say those things!"

Yuu stepped in front of him, almost looming. "But Hori-sensei, any lady who is foolish enough to let you slip right through their fingers certainly don't deserve you!" before she could even finish her admiration speech, Yuu was suddenly awakened from her stupor when she saw the awestruck look at her mentor's face.

The awkward moment would've been more awkward if Masayuki's phone didn't ring.

If anybody noticed that the pair was quiet during the entire trek back to the inn, none of them spoke. As soon as everyone had settled down inside their respective rooms, Yuu decided to take a nice, long dip in the baths to soothe her nerves and relax her somehow. It had only been day one, but things felt like it was moving at a pace too rapid for her.

She found the girls' side of the bathroom empty, which delighted her. That meant she could take her sweet time without disturbing anyone. Plus, despite herself, Yuu actually liked singing while taking a bath. She stripped and dipped her toe to check the water's temperature before submerging.

And so, her concert began.

"Kashima?"

The young lady was jolted at the sound of her name. "Oh, _crap_."

There was some swishing of water from the other side of the baths. "I know it's you, Kashima."

She frowned. "What are you doing here, Hori-sensei?"

"Taking a bath, what else?"

"How'd you know it was me, though? It could've been another guest."

He heard him snicker. "That voice of yours is hard to forget."

Yuu glared at the partition.

The rest of their bath time went undisturbed. Yuu exited the baths and found Masayuki waiting for her outside, dressed in a yukata and with his hair down. She decided that this look on her mentor was something she wouldn't mind seeing everyday.

 _'Wait, what?'_

"It took you a while." He stated the obvious as he stood up from the bench he sat on.

"You didn't have to wait for me, you know." She replied, though without any hint of annoyance.

The young lady found it amusing how their paces seemed to matched up in the few months that they've been walking together. Warmth spread inside her, matching the equally warm smile on her lips. A giggle escaped her mouth.

"Penny for your thoughts?"

She shook her head, still smiling. "Nothing of importance, Hori-sensei. Don't mind me."

Being the gentleman he had always been around her, Masayuki waited for her to unlock the sliding door to her room. Before walking inside and calling it a night, Yuu turned round to face her mentor and greet him good night.

But she wasn't prepared for her mentor's response.

She felt his hand tug her right hand and lifted it carefully to his mouth as his lips ghosted over her knuckles, sending a shot of what seemed like electrical waves all over her. Yuu could feel her countenance falling apart at the slightest touch, and any moment now, she felt like bursting into smithereens if Masayuki wouldn't let go of her hand that instant.

"About what you said earlier, thank you for the kind words." He said, flashing a small smile that made her tummy tumble in a pleasant way. His hand finally let go of hers.

"A-Ah,"—an awkward chuckle—"you're welcome, uh, Hori-sensei." She stammered, completely forgetting how this young man could actually break her normally cool air. "G-Good night, again!"

She closed the door a little hastily behind her as she leaned on it, holding her breath. She waited for the sound of the door sliding and closing from Masayuki's room before she sat on the floor, hugging her legs and repeating the scene from earlier in her head.

 _'Sweet mother of romance, what just happened?!'_ she screamed internally.

Yuu slept that night in bliss, dreaming of a cute knight wooing her and winning her heart successfully.

* * *

So, how was it? . Let me hear your thoughts, please! :D Thank you!


	15. What Are We, Really?

**Chapter Fifteen: What Are We, Really?**

The winter break was about to be concluded in a few days, and luckily for Masayuki, he had already finished checking the papers he was scheduled to return to the students after break. He arranged the test papers and worksheets he brought with him home on his desk, making sure there wasn't any loose sheet in the stack, and double checking if the stacks were arranged by section. The last thing that he wanted was to lose a student's sheet. The young man made a mental note to review his lessons before classes resumed.

After their family outing, it was pretty much work again for Masayuki since he immediately went through the loads of papers he deemed his teacher homework. He couldn't bear the thought of cramming everything on the last week of winter break, and showing up rattled at work. But that was to be expected of the reliable and responsible Math instructor.

His eyes landed on his desk calendar. Speaking of winter break, it had been days since he last saw and heard from Yuu. Not that he was going through separation anxiety or anything; he had gotten used to her presence being there all the time. And speaking of the young lady, Masayuki remembered how behaved she remained for the rest of the trip after their first night. And though they were seat mates again on the way home, she hardly spoke to him, and subjected herself to just staring out the window. Each time he tried to ask her if she was feeling fine, she'd only dismiss it as one of those days. The last time he texted her to check if her mood had been lifted, she only replied with a simple, _"I'm okay. Don't worry about me."_ They hadn't talked after that.

As much as it embarrassed him to admit it, Masayuki was bothered by the sudden shift in Yuu's demeanour. Perhaps he was even bothered more than he was licensed to. Nevertheless, the young man couldn't shake the gnawing feeling that had been eating him since their family outing because Yuu—as much as he tried to ignore it—had successfully wormed her way in his heart (he wanted to barf at the thought of that). She had become more than his student intern, definitely.

 _'But is she even willing to explore the possibility of taking whatever we have at the moment to... something more?'_

The young man decided that if he wanted to achieve peace right now, he'd have to talk to the young lady until she opened up. He got his phone from his bed, and dialed Yuu's number.

"Hello, Hori-sensei," she answered almost immediately, "do you need anything?"

He noted the absence of glee in her tone, as if she didn't want to talk to him right now. But he soldiered on anyway.

"Hey, Kashima, are you doing something right now?"

The young lady didn't reply immediately. "Yuuki and I were supposed to go to the mall today, but she backed out the last minute. Why?"

 _'Okay, Masayuki, it's time,'_ he told himself as he cleared his throat. "I realized I haven't treated you for the house visit so why don't we meet up at the desserts place near my street?"

* * *

"Oh, Hori-sensei! It's been a while," Mikoto greeted him as he entered the establishment. "What brings you here?"

Masayuki looked at Mikoto. "I'm meeting Kashima here. We... need to talk about something."

Mikoto's eyebrows rose in curiosity, but decided not to ask any further. "Do you want the corner booth over there? I can tidy it up before she comes."

The young man checked said corner booth and smirked. "Yup, that spot is perfect. Thank you, Mikoshiba."

As the part-timer wiped the table clean, Masayuki submerged himself into deep contemplation, pondering on how this conversation could possibly go. He had already considered both endings on his way here: if Yuu would take this positively like he hoped she would, then there'd be no problem, and he'd be the happiest man alive. But say, the young lady wasn't ready for this kind of talk, and what he had in mind, then it'd be like going back to the first time they met, and they'd be so wary of sticking to their original relationship, which was mentor and mentee. He had considered, but he hadn't gone far into thinking of how he'd take the outcome of this impulsive need to settle things.

Everything depended on what Yuu would say.

His pondering was disrupted when the bell by the door rang, startling him a bit. Then he saw Yuu, clad in the most ordinary white shirt and most ordinary pair of jeans, but still looking like she just came from the runway. She looked rather hassled and antsy as she searched the place for him until her pretty eyes locked with his. The young lady ambled to where he was, but not without waving to her best friend.

"Good afternoon, Hori-sensei!" the cheer in her tone was back, but it seemed so stiff to him, still. "Thank you for the treat!"

He couldn't stop the smile plastered on his face at the sight of the young lady. Even in the simplest outfit, she still looked fantastic to his eyes. _'You're really hopeless, Masayuki.'_

"Anyway, sensei, why'd you summon me out of the blue? You miss me already?" She flashed him a cheeky grin that somehow made him want to wipe it off. Of course, he meant it in the most endearing way.

He snorted. "Summoned you? Kashima Yuu, we need to talk." The young man motioned for the young woman to sit across him.

Yuu obeyed like the good assistant she was. Her face contorted to that of puzzlement. "Talk about what?"

Masayuki leaned closer. "Talk about _us_ , that's what."

He swore he saw various emotions cross Yuu's face when she realized what he meant. "Oh," was all that she managed to say. He sighed before speaking, but Yuu raised her hand.

"Uh, Hori-sensei, since you did open this topic, I've been thinking..." she faltered, her usual cool demeanour slowly cracking, "What exactly... are we?"

If it were possible to drown just by looking at Yuu's eyes, Masayuki would be dead now. Her pretty green eyes glistened as the light from behind him illuminated her face. But now wasn't the time to be distracted; Yuu just asked him a question.

"Hori-sensei, we've been taking side trips after school hours, and you usually end up paying for them even if I insist I can pay for mine. And you walk me home afterwards. Then you invited me on your family outing." The young woman narrowed her eyes. "What exactly do those actions mean, sensei?"

He didn't answer immediately until he stilled his insides. "Oh, so you've noticed, huh? And here I am, thinking you haven't picked up on it yet."

She rolled her eyes. "Hori-sensei, I'm not dumb."

"Of course you're not."

Yuu frowned. Mikoto chose this time to interrupt the pair, menus in hand. He froze, though, when he digested the tension beginning to build up around the two. He almost whimpered pitifully when Masayuki turned to face him.

"I-I'm sorry to i-interrupt, but I haven't taken your orders y-yet so..." he stammered as he shakily handed them the menus he was holding.

Both of them grabbed the menu and scanned the board.

"I'll have strawberry and mango parfait with vanilla ice cream and caramel syrup." Yuu sweetly said as she handed the board back to her best friend, smiling.

"I'll have frozen yogurt dusted with crushed chocolate." Masayuki did the same.

"O-Okay. Your orders will be ready in ten minutes." Mikoto didn't write their orders this time and hurried to leave. Masayuki couldn't blame him. As if on cue, the pair looked at each other again. This time it was the young man who found his voice first.

"To answer your first question, I don't really know what to call our arrangement except we both know that we've crossed the boundaries of the typical mentor-mentee dynamic. And those dinners aren't exactly what I'd consider dates. Walking you home is only proper because we usually end up really late. Lastly, my family enjoys your company apparently." He enumerated, counting the answers with his fingers. "Those things cleared, I want to ask you something, too." Hori propped his elbows on the table, brown eyes fixed on green ones as he rested his chin on both hands.

He could see Yuu's usually confident air slowly leave her as her expression became serious. "What is it, Hori-sensei?"

"Well, we've been spending so much time around each other after school, and I actually like being around you," he paused to clear his throat, "so I thought, why don't we stop beating around the bush and officially date?" Masayuki smirked. "How does that sound?"

Yuu's lips trembled as she closed her eyes, something he interpreted as her way of composing herself. Her palms hit the table as she stood up, cheeks painted with a hint of pink that made her look prettier and even more adorable. To his eyes, at least.

"Let me go to the ladies' room first, Hori-sensei."

When Yuu hurried to the said room and didn't return for a good five minutes, the young man couldn't help but be eaten by anxiety. _'Was this her way of rejecting me?'_ he wondered as his fingers tapped repeatedly on the table. _'What if she really rejects me?'_

Here he was, asking a college senior of all people, if they could start dating and stop pretending that nothing was developing between them. While Yuu wasn't a minor, she was still a student (even though she'd be graduating by March). Sure she wasn't _his_ student, but he was _her_ mentor. Oh, the gossip this... whatever this was entailed when word of it got out. Masayuki hated to admit that he was starting to regret opening this up. _'Oh lord, I don't think I've given it much thought.'_

Masayuki knew how complicated it was to be involved with anyone as a teacher, much more to be involved with his (pseudo)colleague, but he honestly didn't anticipate it to be _this_ complex. But from experience, he already knew that involvement of sorts came with hurdles. Still...

The young man was so deep in thought that he didn't notice the girlish screaming inside the ladies' room.

He was hurled back to the present at the sound of Yuu bumping on the table as she sat on the couch. She hissed at the contact. "Sorry it took a while." She mumbled as she settled comfortably. "Anyway, what were you saying earlier, Hori-sensei?"

Masayuki frowned. "Kashima, you heard it the first time. I'm pretty sure of it."

She mimicked the frown he sported, only she wore it better. "I wasn't able to register everything properly."

He sighed exasperatedly. "Kashima."

A staring battle ensued until Yuu's expression changed to a happy one. "'Kay, fine, you got me there, Hori-sensei. But I just want to hear it again!" she whined, her grin never leaving her pretty face. "For good measure. You know, just to make sure I wasn't hearing things or something."

Masayuki shook his head as the corners of his lips tugged upwards to a small, amused smile. "So I'm assuming you're totally fine with us dating, am I right?"

And only Yuu could shine brighter than the stars at night. "Of course, Hori-sensei!"

 _'Is this the real life?'_ Masayuki thought as he allowed himself to openly admire such a radiant sight. _'Snap out of it, Masayuki; this is the real life.'_

"But Hori-sensei," the young lady's voice interrupted his musing, "now that we've agreed on dating, there should be some agreements between us, right?"

He nodded. "I suppose so. It leaves room for more trouble without agreements." He murmured almost immediately before adding, "Take it from me."

She agreed, nodding. "Well, how do we address each other? I mean, wouldn't it be weird to still call you formally like before?"

The young man pondered for a few seconds before replying. "Given our circumstance, I'd prefer if we refer to each other as we do before when in school—to keep the rumours ar bay, that is. We can't have the students teasing us even more or Mitsui-sensei might call our attention and call off dating—"

"Wait, who says we're calling this off?"

"No, Kashima; what I meant was, we can't be careless inside the school premises since we're teachers, and the students are supposed to look up to us as role models of some sort. You know how it works." he explained, hands moving animatedly. "Involvement is quite different for teachers, that you'll learn."

Yuu pouted. "But Karasuma-sensei and her husband from the Humanities Department are pretty sweet with each other. Sometimes I even see them hold hands and bid each other goodbye with a kiss on the cheek."

"They're married, Kashima; that's an entirely different thing."

The young lady sighed in resignation. "Mkay. But after work hours, can I call you Hori-chan?"

"That's what my colleagues call me, Kashima." He reminded her in a matter-of-fact tone. "How about we stick to first names?"

"Aww, no Hori-chan? But it suits you really well."

The young man snorted.

Yuu mock-saluted him. "Noted, Hori-chan! Then I guess you should start calling me by my first name. We're not in school premises." A mischievous grin crossed her face as she waggled her brows.

"Okay, Yuu," he humoured, smirking, "it feels kinda strange, though."

She stuck her tongue out. "So you better get used to it."

Masayuki continued. "No hugs or handholding inside school grounds," he declared, pointing a finger at her. "If you try to sneak one, I'll send you to the ground."

Yuu sneered. "Oh my gosh, you're so shy!"

"No. Just being responsible." The young man quipped.

The young lady raised her hand. "Can you allow me to split the bill sometimes or at least let me spoil you when I want to?"

He narrowed his eyes.

She immediately shifted to her adorable mode. "Please, Hori-chan! I feel bad every time you treat me to something and you don't get anything at all." For good measure, she stood up from her seat and squeezed herself in on the couch where Masayuki sat. The young man could only watch as she took his hand with both of hers, squeezing it. "C'mon, Hori-chan; allow yourself to be pampered by your darling sometimes."

He supposed it was some sort of sweet gesture that would make him go 'kya!' but he could only produce a blank stare. "You actually think you can woo me that way, huh?"

"Well, did I succeed?" she asked, eyelashes fluttering, but suave demeanour forgotten.

Masayuki removed his hand from her hold and easily enclosed hers with his. "You know, you're really wonderful, and you're unbelievably good-looking, but sometimes I just really want to punch you in the face."

The young woman only flashed him a cheeky grin.

* * *

And I'm back! I'm sorry for the (unplanned) hiatus.


	16. The Love Struck and The Love Stuck

I had this story outlined until the end, and if I'm going to strictly stick with the outline, this story ends in six chapters (including the epilogue). _But_ I decided to stretch this story a little longer (but still within a four-month timeline since it's the title and all hohoho) because I feel like there are certain things that I need to flesh out or this story will appear more hurried than it actually is. I did mention in one of the previous chapters (Chapter 11, I think?) that we're halfway with this story; we're not, and I'm taking it back in the hopes of making this better than my intended plot.

The chapters usually go with either Kashima's or Hori's point of view, but for this chapter, I decided to indulge myself and shift to different views including side characters, Mikorin and Chiyorin! Not that they're side characters in canonverse, but in this fanfic, they are. I hope I give them justice.

Anyway, for those who're still reading this and keeping themselves up to date with this story, thank you so much! :D

* * *

 **Chapter Sixteen: The Love Struck and the Love Stuck**

This story wasn't set on a faraway land, like most stories were, and though it was about a princess, this princess had no crown to boast of, and no kingdom to succeed. Frankly, this princess hardly resembled one: her hair didn't cascade to her back in waves, and she was tall and lanky. She wasn't always in distress, and she didn't need any saving.

If anything, the princess seemed more like a prince; quite a charmer, and a little too friendly. Elaborate and flowery words came easily to her, and she knew what to say, how to say it, and when to say it. She was also easy to please, and easy to get along with; anyone with so much free time could just ask her to join them on side trips, especially if it promised parfaits or crepes, or anything sweet basically. Due to her amiable nature, it wasn't a surprise that she became popular to both boys (because they envied her carefree nature and confident air), and girls (because she was tons better than most boys, let's face it).

With looks, talent, and charm like hers, it was easy to assume that she could be involved with anyone, but that wasn't the case at all. Somehow, the princess actually felt like none of the people she interacted with could ever match what she was looking for, if she was even looking for someone to begin with. She'd seen her share of pretty boys and pretty girls, but none of them really moved her; none of them affected her in a way that she wanted to cross the mountains and brave the seas, and all the other hyperbolic, cheesy statements a person in love promised to do.

But of course, there would always, always be that one person who would come right crashing at you in the least expected times. Yuu learned about this about three months ago.

This story was about Yuu Kashima and how a mere human named Masayuki Hori became the winner of the metaphorical battle to win her affections.

For once, Yuu allowed herself to be a princess this time, no matter how odd it seemed to her. She learned that being wooed every now and then wasn't so bad, especially if the wooing came from Masayuki, beloved mentor, and now beloved for real.

How long had their relationship officially started? Ah, about three days ago. But if they were to count from where it all started, when the line between colleagues and friends had been crossed until the line had become so blurry, it almost felt like a long time. The young lady wondered why it took them so long to acknowledge the growing feelings inside them. Fear? Embarrassment? Insecurity? Even on the later parts of their companionship, she could already tell something was brewing, and it wasn't going to stop.

Her parents were right; they were a bunch of fools engulfed by emotions, but hey. Her parents had been like that, too, and much to her chagrin, they were still like that, too (which she always took as a good sign). Speaking of parents, Masayuki have yet to eat dinner with the family again, when her parents weren't so busy with their working lives. She still had to officially introduce him as the guy she was _officially_ dating.

This whole dating thing proved to be complex, she noted. When was it appropriate to hold hands (when they've probably done that more when they weren't a couple yet)? When was it appropriate to give an encouraging hug to cheer him up (when they've shared maybe a few hugs but nothing much with deep feelings)? When was the appropriate time to kiss? Should they even be kissing at all when they were _only_ dating?

Yuu had to admit; she was a cherry girl right off the bat. How did she even get to this point?

She wasn't the first girl he ever dated, but for someone who had been in a serious relationship before, Masayuki was pretty patient with her (and sometimes she wished his patience extended to her student internship). He probably smelled awkwardness all over her the second time they met up for a date so being the responsible boy that he was, Masayuki tried to make things comfortable for her—he wasn't touchy, he certainly kept his hands to himself, and he would often ask if she was feeling fine. With all honesty, though, the young lady felt more like she was out with her guardian on a field trip. She guessed that must've been the price of dating a young man with a great sense of responsibility, right?

She liked it so much when she would catch him staring at her face like it was the only thing on his way. She was one who liked attention, but the attention that she mostly craved for was his, so seeing that effect on him made her feel assured that this guy wouldn't be going anywhere. No, Hori-sensei wasn't a shallow person; between openly praising her good looks and her good traits, he still noticed her traits more. Yuu just thought it was nice that the very eyes she wanted boring holes on her body or just admiring her from afar was from the very person she wanted. It was really silly, how she could wish for these kinds of things in secret without even feeling the need to vomit. Really silly.

"Earth to Kashima. Hello?"

A deep voice shook her awake. Yuu turned to look at her best friend who looked at her as if her soul was drifting away from her body.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Mikoshiba. Were you saying something?"

Mikoto only sighed and shook his head as he returned his attention to the manga he was reading. "I wasn't saying anything. You stopped midway your story. You were staring off at space with that awful look in your face."

Yuu blinked in confusion. "Was I telling a story? I'm sorry for losing focus, then." What was going on with her?

The young lad looked up from his manga. "You seemed like you were in deep thought, though. Mind sharing what's in your mind? Though let me take a guess: it's about Hori-sensei again, right?"

The corners of her lips turned upwards almost involuntarily at the mention of Masayuki's name. Mikoto caught this faint gesture and rolled his eyes. "I knew it," he whispered.

The young lady lifted herself from the floor and squeezed herself in Mikoto's bed as she sat on the edge. "Can you believe it, though? I'm finally dating someone!"

Mikoto smiled at the sheer cheer reflected on his best friend's emerald eyes as he once again looked up from his manga. "But haven't you taken quite a number of people out on dates? Group dates even?"

"Well, they were friendly dates, and not the kind of dates that Hori-chan and I have gone to!"

"Dates? You only started dating like, three days ago."

Yuu held out her hand and started counting. "Our first official date was when he asked me out officially, and our second date was just yesterday. Dates."

The young man snorted. "But you make it sound like you've gone out several times already. Well, I mean, sure you've been _unofficially_ going out even before, but, uh... you know what I mean. Whatever."

Yuu sighed dreamily as she once again sat on the floor and laid her head on the edge of Mikoto's bed. "But to be dating Hori-chan... I feel like the luckiest girl in Japan right now."

She didn't see her best friend's eyeroll. But he wore an amused smile in the process, mind you.

* * *

Hori-chan this, Hori-chan that... Mikoto wouldn't be surprised if he'd be able to write his best friend's love story because it was all they ever talked about lately. Sure, Yuu had it bad ever since, but _my freaking lord_ , this was bordering to obsession, if he might even call it that, and that was rich coming from him, a closet otaku who would willingly starve just to buy his desired merchandise. If there was anyone who could spot obsession, it had to be an otaku just like Mikoto.

Not that he was proud to be one.

Being the gentleman that he perceived himself to be, he just humoured his best friend each time she would babble on about her latest discoveries about her beloved. Mikoto shuddered at a sudden thought. Listening to her rant as days would pass would probably become harder since relationships such as theirs tend to be messy in general. Which was why Mikoto thought it wise to stick to his two-dimensional girlfriends instead.

Not that he was proud to be a three-dimensional boyfriend.

But what really irked him was the fact that he suddenly felt a little lonely when Yuu called him up and told him that she and Masayuki were officially dating, as well as the tiny details that came with their arrangement. It wasn't like he liked her that way or anything (okay, maybe, when they were still new friends, he _might've_ liked her _a teensy bit_ ); it just felt like the balance of his world was disturbed. With Yuu preoccupied with her beloved mentor-slash-suitor, Mikoto didn't really share a relationship as close as he had with Yuu, and that really made him sad. He was genuinely happy for his best friend, but what would happen to him now? All that he had left was his simulation games and his pet cat.

Mikoto's head lowered as he sighed dejectedly. Why couldn't he be as cool and suave in real life as he was in the two-dimensional world?

"Ouch!"

The young man's head shot up and saw a familiar shade of orange hair that he was sure he saw before. He squinted his eyes for a better look, and just to make sure. It'd be embarrassing if he got her identity wrong, right?

Meanwhile, Chiyo lifted her leg and rubbed her shin, right where the offending pebble hit her. Who could be this violent to actually think of kicking a pebble right to her shin? Her shin of all places! The petite lady readied her angry face before facing the bastard who hit her and saw the part-time waiter from the sweets shop that they frequented because Yuu liked the parfaits there.

"Hey!" she began, pointing at his direction, "aren't you Kashima-kun's friend? The part-time waiter?"

The part-time waiter, huh? He thought. Mikoto was a little annoyed that this tiny person would refer to him that way instead of his surname (like normal people do, huh). "You're Sakura, right?"

He saw her cheeks flush. "Oh my gosh, you remembered my name. I'm so sorry! I can't even reme—"

"Mikoshiba," he hurriedly said as he stretched his hand towards her. "J-Just call me, Mikoshiba."

Chiyo enclosed his hand with hers and shook it. "Mikoshiba, uh, yes. I'm sorry I wasn't able to remember your name all this time."

The faint colour in her cheeks made her look like a fragile China doll. She reminded Mikoto of the shy girls he encountered in the many dating sims game he played starting junior high. He'd tried dating tsundere girls, yandere girls, and even yangire girls, too, but nothing really made his heart tingle like shy girls did. Just the journey of being able to conquer the heart of a maiden that took a while to get her feelings across was enough to make him feel manlier than ever.

Not that Chiyo would ever make his heart tingle.

"It's okay. I hardly wear my name plate anyway." He mumbled as he released her hand. "I'm... sorry about the pebble. I was... mindlessly kicking it."

The young lady brushed his apology with a wave. "It's okay. My shin will be fine in a few seconds," she said as she peeked at her shin and smiled. "You probably have something in your mind, huh?"

Mikoto could feel his cheeks burning at the thought of interacting with someone he didn't frequently talk to. "Uh, not really. I, I may have, I guess? I'm really sorry I wasn't paying attention to my surroundings."

But Chiyo dismissed his apology once again, shaking her head. "No need to be sorry; if I were paying attention with my surroundings, too, I could've easily avoided being hit by a pebble. Really. Let's call it quits."

"S-Something on your mind?"

* * *

Chiyo must've really had it bad for her to actually go to a cafe with someone else's friend, whom she knew zilch about regarding his family background or his medical conditions, and whom she even forgot who exactly was in spite of how flashy his hair colour had always been. But here she was, sitting across this boy who willingly listened to her rant about how much of an idiot she was for liking a walking piece of wood and not being brave enough to confess _properly_. In her proper state of mind, she would've minded the fact that he paid for their drinks even if they weren't really friends to begin with, but right now, Chiyo was almost close to tearing up and laughing at herself for sounding so desperate, as if she was some naive high school girl with a silly crush on one of her schoolmates.

But all the while, she saw no sign of indignance nor sounds of mockery coming from the young man across her. It was as if this boy was used to do these kinds of things that he seemed unbothered by her chattiness and seeming desperation. Well, from what she recalled, he was Yuu's best friend, and if you could stand Yuu's ranting about Hori-sensei, then you could stand much ranting by this time. Nonetheless, this simple act of service was greatly appreciated by the young lady.

"Thank you so much for listening, Mikoshiba. I'm also sorry that you had to sit through all that ranting." She said after taking a sip of her vanilla chai tea latte.

It was rather amusing to see the young man blush a bit. Had he always been this bashful?

"It was nothing." He said, almost too quickly, and he nearly spilled his drink when he lifted his mug from the table. "You seemed like you wanted to talk anyway."

Chiyo chuckled. "Do I really look _that_ troubled?" And she was rewarded by a sheepish grin from the sheepish Mikoto. The petite lady rolled her eyes good-naturedly, and smirked. "Well, do you have any story to tell me, Mikoshiba? I mean, I've been talking nonstop about some guy you don't even know for like, thirty minutes already, so I think it's only fair that I listen to you."

Mikoto sighed. It wasn't like he had any story to tell her anyway. He was pretty sure she wouldn't be of help to him with his current predicament in the sci-fi romance game he was currently finishing for like, two weeks now. From what his "experience" had shown him, girls didn't really fancy such things. What they wanted was to paint their nails and talk about their feelings; to go shopping and eat parfaits after a long trip to the mall; to gush about celebrities and the latest trends in fashion and the Internet; to wear ma—

"Hey, Mikoshiba. What's that charm hanging on your phone?"

The young man shot her a puzzled look.

Chiyo continued. "I think I've seen that character somewhere before."

Mikoto fished for his phone in his pocket and let the charm dangle as he lifted it up. "You know who this is?"

The young lady motioned for him to hand her the phone for a closer look, and he did. Chiyo smiled. "Isn't this character from a simulation game?"

The young man's eyes lit up in cheer.

* * *

Mikoto nearly threw his controller in frustration and disbelief.

"But she said she was free this Tuesday! What's wrong with her schedule suddenly?!"

The young woman seated beside him only sighed and shook her head. "You know, girls can be fickle and all at times, but these girls in this game are worse." She grabbed the manual from the CD box and started flipping the pages. "You said you've been trying to woo her for two weeks now?"

Mikoto nodded violently like a little kid about to throw a grand tantrum.

Chiyo frowned and her brows furrowed in deep thought. "Let's try something."

It had been a long evening for Mikoto. The young man sighed in relief as he laid on his bed and stretched his back and arms. Chiyo was something else, he learned; so she knew about the game he was playing because she spotted a CD of it inside her crush's open bag. She said he told her a friend suggested he play it, and was about to return the game to said friend that day. He talked about parts of the game, and even showed her the characters, which explained why the young lady was familiar with his phone charm. She said she never played any simulation game before, and that she was just going to rely on what she knew, and boy, she did know so much; Mikoto was finally able to score a date with the girl he'd been trying to woo for two _flipping_ weeks. She managed to do it in less than a day.

* * *

His phone rang suddenly, causing him to jerk on his bed. He grabbed his phone from his desk and swiped the answer button. "Yes, Kashima?"

" _Hello, Mikoshiba!"_ came her happy tone, _"I heard you met up with Chiyo-chan earlier."_

News sure travelled fast. "Well, I bumped into her while walking outside."

" _Yeah, that's what she said. She even told me you brought her home just to help you play your current game. What's up with that?"_ Yuu teased, laughing.

His cheeks reddened instantly. "She offered to help me. Besides I've been stuck in the same predicament for two weeks now. Any help is appreciated, duh."

His best friend's laughter subsided and he heard her sigh. _"She did say she had fun hanging out with you. And she wanted to tell you thanks for the drinks earlier. Chiyo-chan told me she forgot to tell you before leaving your house."_

"Uh, oh, um, okay?" Somehow, he had no idea how to respond to that.

" _Thank you so much for entertaining my friend, too; you really are the best. Oh, and did you know what else she said about you? She said you're one of the most good-looking guys she's ever seen!"_ Yuu paused to chuckle. _"I smell an admirer!"_

Mikoto's face reddened even more, and it almost felt like his heart was swelling. Somehow, that compliment affected him _way_ more than it should. Strange.

" _Say, what do you think of Chiyo-chan?"_

Did they really have to talk about this? "Are you implying something?"

He could just imagine his best friend shaking her head but smiling with mirth. _"Is there something I should even be implying, huh? Anyway, long day tomorrow. Hori-chan and I will begin reviewing the lessons before classes resume. Good night, Mikoshiba, and sweet dreams, my little bambino!"_

He snorted and rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah. Good night, Kashima."

* * *

Mikoto woke up with a start. He reached for his phone and checked the time. Great, he woke up at an ungodly hour with a revelation:

He seemed to have a thing for this one young lady in pretty bows, and if his dream of getting himself tangled in her long, orange locks because he was distracted by her purple eyes as he openly stared at her cuteness wasn't confirmation enough, then Mikoto had zero idea what this shock and thumping in his chest meant.

Oh my freaking goodness; he was dead.


End file.
